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PNN

Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from the town of Qabatya, south of Jenin, on Wednesday morning, while Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank sprayed a family of Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy, with gas.

In Jenin refugee camp, local sources reporting to Palestinian government news wire Wafa said that “a huge number” of forces accompanied by a low-flying helicopter conducted a four hour raid in which troops searched all the neighborhoods in the camp.

By dawn soldiers had arrested Anas Atta Kamil, 27, Ahmed Hisham Kamil, 26—a student in the American University in Jenin and released prisoner—and 24-year-old Yazan Ateb Obaideh.

Meanwhile in the southern West Bank, a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Etzion near Bethlehem sprayed a family of Palestinians from the village of Artas with tear gas. Mohammed Hussein As’ad’s family suffered from inhalation, including 10-year-oldd Sa’ad, who was transferred to the Beit Jala for treatment.

It is not known for certain where the Etzion settlers acquired the tear gas, but it could be part of a package of non-lethal weapons distributed to settlers by the Israeli government earlier this year, fearing reprisals over the Palestinian presentation of its UN membership bid in September.

Also in the southern West Bank, Israeli forces gave Hebron-area farmer Ali Jaber a warning on Wednesday that they would soon bulldoze his land, located in the area of al-Buqa'a.

The small patch of land, about four dunums (a dunum is a quarter of an acre), is thought to be wanted by the Israeli Makrot water company, as Jaber reported that the soldiers who delivered the warning were accompanied by Makrot employees. He said there are now 10 settler caravans in al-Buqa'a and he and his neighbors have begun to face settler attacks every day.