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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli police forces detained a Palestinian “youth” in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem Friday morning, according to Israeli media. 

Israeli media reported that the youth, whose identity remained unknown, was detained for being in possession of a knife. He was reportedly transferred for interrogation.

An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. 

Israeli forces have detained scores of Palestinians, many of the minors, 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.

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 alleged attackers 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 or imprisoned Palestinians to claim that they were acting in self-defense during a stabbing attack.