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Photo:
Illustrative scene. File. Published by Maan News
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HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained three 17-year-old Palestinians from the Old City of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, for allegedly possessing "sharp objects," local sources told Ma'an.

Israeli forces deployed near the illegal Beit Romano settlement detained three Palestinians and forced them into the settlement at gunpoint.

The three were identified by locals as Muhammad Majid Abd al-Majid al-Ashqar, Bahaa Mujahid, and Malik Talib Maraqa.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an they were looking into the case.
Israeli forces have detained scores of Palestinians for allegedly being in possession of knives following a spate of alleged and actual small-scale knife attacks by Palestinians that surged in the fall of 2015, with a number of Palestinians having been shot while being detained at military checkpoints.

Rights groups have disputed Israel's version of events in a number of cases, also denouncing what they have termed as a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death, or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner -- amid a backdrop of impunity for Israeli forces who have committed the killings.

Eyewitnesses have also said in a number of cases that Israeli security forces planted knives on slain Palestinians to claim that they were acting in self-defense during a stabbing attack -- most recently in a contested case last month in Hebron.