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Photo published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained a Palestinian near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron on Wednesday for allegedly approaching Israeli officers with a knife, according to Israeli sources.

Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement that the “suspect” was a 25-year-old Palestinian from Hebron, who allegedly approached Israeli border police forces near the mosque. After arriving a few meters away from the Israeli officers, the unidentified Palestinian allegedly “started shouting while holding a knife in his hand,” al-Samri said.

Israeli officers noticed the knife and pointed their guns at the Palestinian, ordering him to stop and throw the knife, which the Palestinian acceded to, according to al-Samri.

The Palestinian was then detained and transferred to interrogations with Israeli security forces.

Scores of Palestinians have been detained in the past two years for alleged possession of knives, with a concentration of detentions at military checkpoints around the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

The Hebron area in particular grew as the epicenter of upheaval since October 2015, with Israeli authorities severely restricting the movement of Palestinians in parts of Hebron's Old City.

Meanwhile, mistreatment of Palestinians in the Hebron area has been common since the city was divided in the 1990s after a US-born settler, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinians inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The majority of the city was placed under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while the Old City and surrounding areas were placed under Israeli military control in a sector known as H2 since the 1994 attack.