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by IMEMC News

Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Sunday at dawn, two young Palestinian men in Hebron city, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.

Local sources said the soldiers invaded and searched several homes, and kidnapped Islam Zahda and Anas al-Karaki, and took them to an unknown destination.

The soldiers also summoned several young men for interrogation in the Etzion military base and security center, north of Hebron.

Furthermore, the army installed many roadblocks in different parts of the Hebron district, completely isolating various communities.

On Saturday evening, the soldiers invaded the town of al-‘Ezariyya, east of occupied East Jerusalem, and fired many gas bombs, causing scores of Palestinians to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, in addition to burning a clothing store.

Also on Saturday evening, the army Iraq-Burin village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, searched homes and kidnapped six young men, while many Palestinians suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.

On Saturday morning, the army shot and killed a young Palestinian man at the main entrance of Tal Romeida neighborhood, in the center of Hebron city, while on Friday evening, the soldiers shot and killed a child in same neighborhood.
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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces raided areas of the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron in the predawn hours Sunday morning, detaining at least five Palestinians, ordering two others to appear for interrogation, and seizing one car, as reports also emerged of Israeli settlers attacking a Palestinian home in the district.

Local sources told Ma’an that Israeli forces detained Islam Ghayad Muhammad Zawahra from his home in the city of Hebron, after searching and ransacking the house.

Israeli forces also raided a house in the village of Wadi Abu Katila in northwestern Hebron, and delivered a summons to brothers Uday and Musab Hashim al-Haymuni to appear before Israeli intelligence for interrogation.

In Surif in the northwestern Hebron district, locals said Israeli forces raided the village and seized a car.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the detention in Hebron and informed Ma’an of two more in the city, and added that a suspected “Hamas operative” was detained in Khursa southwest of Hebron, while another Palestinian was detained in the village of Beit Awwa on the western edge of the district.

Meanwhile, locals reported that Israeli settlers “attacked a house” belonging to the Rabi family in the village of al-Tuwani in the southern Hebron hills, without providing further details.

An Israeli army spokesperson said they were looking into reports of the incident.

The Hebron raids came a day after the Israeli army announced it was deploying an additional battalion to the district, in the wake of a number of alleged attacks committed by Palestinians in the area that left three Palestinians shot dead and one critically injured by Israeli forces in less than 48 hours.

Israeli forces on Saturday also placed the Hebron-area village of Bani Naim under a full military blockade, after two 18-year-old Palestinians who were engaged to be married to each other allegedly attempted to carry out a car ramming attack in front of a nearby illegal Israeli settlement.

Fares Moussa Muhammad Khaddour was shot dead in the incident, while his fiancee Raghdad Khaddour was critically injured. Her sister, Majd Khaddour, was also killed by Israeli forces at the same junction in June after attempting a car ramming attack.

Less than two hours later, 15-year-old Muhammad-Thalji Kayid Thalji al-Rajabi was also shot and killed in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron’s Old City after reportedly stabbing and lightly injuring an Israeli soldier.

On Saturday morning, Israeli forces also shot dead 25-year-old Hatim Abd al-Hafeeth Shaludi in Tel Rumeida after allegedly carrying out a stabbing attack.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Fattah al-Sarrahin, 30, was killed on Thursday after succumbing to gunshot wounds sustained earlier in the day when Israeli forces raided the village of Beit Ula in the district of Hebron and opened live fire on al-Sarrahin as soldiers struggled to detain him.

Israeli forces also killed a Jordanian citizen on Friday after he allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack outside Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem, though his family and witnesses have disputed the Israeli police version of the incident.

On Sunday morning, Israeli forces shot and seriously injured a 20-year-old Palestinian man after he allegedly stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli army officer in the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat southwest of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank.

In a statement issued on Friday, Director of the Hebron district office for Israel's Coordinator of Israeli Government's Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Hariz Safadi said Israeli authorities planned to impose strict punitive measures in the villages where the slain Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks had resided.

The entire district of Hebron was also put under a military closure in July in response to an uptick in violence in the area.

Israeli forces also detained scores of Hebron residents in nightly raids, restricted movement for tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians living in the Hebron area, revoked Israeli travel permits for some 2,700 residents, and cut tax transfers collected by Israel on behalf of the PA in the wake of the attacks.

Since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel that has left 227 Palestinians killed by Israelis and 32 Israelis killed by Palestinians, Israel has come under harsh international condemnation for its response to attacks, which rights groups have said amounted to “collective punishment” and represents a clear violation of international law.

The Hebron area in particular grew as the epicenter of upheaval, with Israeli authorities severely restricting the movement of Palestinians by declaring the area of Tel Rumeida and other parts of the Old City as a "closed military zone" for several months in November amid dozens of incidents in which more than 40 Palestinians were killed, while July’s closures on Hebron saw the most widespread restrictions on movement in the occupied West Bank in two years.

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