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by IMEMC News

Updated: 05:16 - Israeli soldiers imposed, starting on Thursday at night, a tight siege on the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, completely isolating it and kidnapped one Palestinian. The soldiers also kidnapped eleven other Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Israeli army said two Palestinian minors were arrested near the entrance to the industrial Zone of Shaar Binyamin colony, in central West Bank.

The army claimed the two walked towards a restricted area of the industrial zone before the soldiers stopped and searched them. and reportedly found knives with them.

Israeli Ynet News said an initial investigation by the army revealed that the two "intended to carry out a stabbing attack."

The soldiers closed all major and minor roads of the town, completely isolating it, and prevented the Palestinians from entering or leaving it.

Bethlehem governor Jibril al-Bakri said the siege is an illegal act of collective punishment on the entire town, and all of its residents, in direct violation of international law and basic principles of human rights.

Al-Bakri added that the Israeli District Coordination Office made the decision to isolate Beit Fajjar, starting on Thursday evening and that the Israeli side said the siege comes in retaliation for the Thursday attack in Ariel colony, near Salfit in Central West Bank.

The incident led to the death of two Palestinians, who reportedly stabbed an Israeli soldier, in her twenties, causing moderate wounds.

The two Palestinians are from Beit Fajjar and have been identified as Ali Jamal Mohammad Taqatqa, 19, and Ali Abdul-Rahman al-Kar Thawabta, 20.

In addition, the soldiers kidnapped, on Friday morning, two young Palestinian men, identified as Ali Awad Abdul-Jabbar, and Osama Bassam Kharouf, near the al-Jalama roadblock, north of Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The two Palestinians, from Sielet ath-Thaher near Jenin, were standing in an area near the roadblock awaiting the arrival of detainee Husam Abdul-Jabbar, after his release from an Israeli detention center.

The soldiers also kidnapped a Palestinian in Hableh town, near the northern West Bank city Qalqilia, one in the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah, and five others in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained nine Palestinians from across the occupied West Bank Friday, an Israeli army spokesman said.

The spokesperson told Ma’an that two Palestinians were detained in the village of Silat al-Thahr near Jenin.

In the village of Habla in the northern district of Qalqiliya one Palestinian was detained.

Israeli forces also detained one in al-Jalazun refugee camp in the central West Bank district of Ramallah.

To the south, in the Hebron district, Israeli forces detained five Palestinians, all suspected “Hamas operatives.”

The spokesperson told Ma’an all were detained for suspected illegal activity or alleged involvement with Hamas.

The detainees were transferred for interrogation.

The Israeli military regularly carries out search and arrest raids in the occupied Palestinian territory, often entering areas under full Palestinian jurisdiction in violation of previous peace agreements.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented a weekly average of 92 raids since the start of 2016, and 99 search and arrest operations between March 8 and 14.

According to prisoners' rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of February, a number of whom rights groups argue are being held in contravention of international law.

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