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BETHEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian woman in her twenties was detained at a checkpoint at the entrance to the Ibrahimi mosque in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron Sunday evening, an Israeli police spokesperson said, claiming police seized a knife from the woman.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri wrote in a statement that the suspect was from Hebron, and that "initial investigations suggest that the woman was seemingly planning a stabbing attack."

Israeli forces have detained scores of Palestinians for allegedly being in possession of knives in the past year following a spate of alleged and actual small-scale knife attacks by Palestinians that surged in the fall of 2015.

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.

Meanwhile, rights groups have widely documented the abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian by Israeli forces and the harsh interrogation practices used to force their confessions.

Hebron in particular grew as the epicenter of upheaval, with a number of Palestinians having been shot while being detained at military checkpoints in the area.

Less than two weeks ago, Israeli forces shot and injured a young Palestinian man in the same area for allegedly attempted to stab a border police officer, Israeli police said.