RAMALLAH, Friday, December 21, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli forces dawn Friday detained at least six Palestinians, mostly during raids across the West Bank, said security sources and witnesses.

Israeli forces detained two Palestinians during a raid that triggered confrontations in Ein Yabrud town, northeast of Ramallah.

The raid came after unknown Palestinian suspects opened fire at a bus station near Ofra settlement, east of Ramallah.

Soldiers ransacked many stores and houses in the town to find camera recordings, causing excessive damage.

In Hebron district, Israeli forces conducted separate two raids into Taffuh and Yatta towns, west and south of Hebron, detaining two Palestinians.

A former prisoner from Hebron was rounded up as he attempted to pass the Container checkpoint, east of Bethlehem.

Meanwhile, Israeli military police detained a Palestinian after stopping him at a checkpoint at the entrance of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shufat.

Thursday night, Israeli soldiers killed Ahmad Abbasi, 21,  a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amoud, and injured another near the northern entrance to al-Bireh city.

Abbassi was killed as he was driving his private vehicle and attempting to pass Beitin checkpoint, also known as the DCO checkpoint.

The killing and subsequent raids came as tensions ran high following a spate of deadly attacks that left four Palestinians and three Israelis dead and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to impose a series of collective punishment measures.

Such measures include demolition of homes belonging to the families of suspected Palestinian assailants and accelerated settlement construction.

Such Israeli measures, taken under the guise of security, are intended to entrench Israel’s 51-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial project which it enforces with routine and frequently deadly violence against Palestinians.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

K.F.