Description

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained at least eight Palestinians, including one youth, in raids overnight Saturday in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an a total of five detentions were made overnight, including a youth from the village of Beit Awwa in the southern district of Hebron, detained for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli settler’s car.

The Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) said in a statement that two were detained in Beit Awwa, and identified them as Diya Masalma and Muntaser Naser Masalma.

In the southern district of Bethlehem, the Israeli army spokesperson said a Palestinian was detained in the village of al-Khader, identified by PPS as Yousif Sayil, 26. According to the army another Palestinian was detained in the village of al-Ubeidiya, identified by PPS as 33-year-old Muneer Mohammad Shanayta.

Israeli forces also detained a Palestinian in al-Eizariya in the central occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem, the Israeli army spokesperson said.

Another Palestinian was detained in the Hebron-area village of Beit Ummar, according to the army. PPS identified three total detained from the Hebron area in addition to the two in Beit Awwa: Rajaee Nafiz Jaber, 25, Nihad Mousa Omr, 66, and Mohammad Fared Alrajee, 23.

PPS also said that Loay Abu Alsaad, a Palestinian security guard at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, was also detained.

Later on Sunday, Israeli police detained a 13-year-old Palestinian boy from occupied East Jerusalem for having a gun in his possession.

Israeli forces conducted a weekly average of 81 search and detention operations across the occupied territory since the beginning of the year, with 135 raids being carried just in the previous week, according to UN documentation.

As of May, 7,000 Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons according to prisoners' rights group Addameer.

Features