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Scene. Published by Maan News
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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained a 15-year-old Palestinian near the Ibrahimi Mosque, in Hebron’s Old City, in the southern occupied West Bank, on late Tuesday.

Local sources said that the Palestinian minor, who was identified as Khalil Muhammad Ahmad al-Birawi, a resident from Yatta City, in southern Hebron, was detained for allegedly having a knife in his possession.

Israeli forces have detained scores of Palestinians, many of them 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.

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.

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.

According to prisoners rights group Addameer, there are 5,500 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons, of whom 230 are child prisoners and 41 are under the age of 16 years.