Israeli forces arrest seven Palestinians, including injured ex-prisoner

Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinians on Saturday night and early on Sunday, including an injured former prisoner.

Ex-prisoner Ghanem Bassam Hamarsheh and two other Palestinians were arrested after raids on their homes in Yabad, a town in the occupied West Bank's Jenin province, said Muntasir Samour, an official with the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group.

Israeli forces raided and searched several houses in Yabad and confrontations broke out between them and Palestinian young people. There were no injuries, The New Arab's Arabic sister service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

The young man Abdullah Al-Jerboa from the Jenin refugee camp was arrested by Israeli forces on Saturday evening as he was passing through a military checkpoint south of Nablus.

On Sunday, the Israelis arrested a 16-year-old boy and another Palestinian from the village of Husan near Bethlehem, with another from the Issawiya neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem also arrested.

On Saturday night in Husan, several Palestinians suffered from the effects of tear gas inhalation amid confrontations with Israeli forces.

Confrontations also broke out on Saturday evening between young Palestinians and Israeli forces in the village of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqilya province.

It came after Palestinians stood up against an attempt by Israeli illegal settlers to storm the village under the protection of the Israeli army.

Separately, Palestinian authorities said they received on Sunday the body of Ahmed Yaqoub Taha, 39, a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in April.

Israel had been withholding his body.

So far this year, over 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers.

Dozens of Israeli radicals stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday, witnesses said.

The extremists carried out rituals at the occupied East Jerusalem site, according to sources cited by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The move marked a violation of the longstanding status quo arrangement governing Al-Aqsa Mosque, which reserves prayer there for Muslims.

Israeli police protected the settlers, who stormed the compound in groups, the sources cited by Wafa said.

Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and the most-sacred Muslim place in Palestine.