JULY 30, 2015 10:00 A.M. (UPDATED: JULY 30, 2015 3:00 P.M.)
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Undercover Israeli forces detained a group of Palestinian teenagers from the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya on Wednesday night, local sources said.
Fierce clashes broke out in the neighborhood between young locals and Israeli forces after forces disguised as Arab citizens detained and beat an unknown number of teens, a local committee member in Issawiya, Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, told Ma’an
Several local residents were hit by rubber-coated bullets and shrapnel of stun grenades during the clashes and some were evacuated to the hospital, he added.
Separately, Israeli forces detained a Bahaa Abu al-Hawa, 19, while he was trying to cross an Israeli military checkpoint in al-Zaayyem in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers attacked Abu al-Hawa before detaining him.
Abu al-Hawa’s father told Ma’an that Israeli forces stopped a bus carrying attendees heading to a wedding party and forced the passengers to exit the vehicle for inspection.
Members of the wedding party, many of whom were women and elderly family members, were reportedly shoved by the Israeli forces during inspections.
The soldiers then detained Abu al-Hawa and started to beat him, his father said, adding that family members were not allowed to approach him to check his injuries.
An Israeli police spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment on the detentions.
Residents of Issawiya and al-Zaayem are a portion of occupied East Jerusalem’s around 300,000 Palestinian residents who are frequently targeted by Israeli authorities for arrest.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces reportedly ransacked houses in Issawiya and detained six teenage boys aged 14 and 15.
There are currently around 5,750 Palestinians from across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank detained in Israeli jails.
Palestinians residents of East Jerusalem also suffer from a chronic lack of services as a result of Israeli municipal policies which allocate few resources to the community while focusing on the growth of neighboring Jewish communities.
Issawiya residents have been targeted in particular the expansion of Jewish-only settlements nearby and Israeli plans to build a national park in the area that have slated hundreds of acres of private Palestinian land for confiscation.
Issawiya, along with the rest of East Jerusalem, was seized by Israel along with the West Bank in 1967 in a move never recognized by the international community.
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