Israeli forces detain Palestinian near Ibrahimi mosque, Hebron

Israeli forces on Saturday detained a young Palestinian man near the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

Locals said that Israeli soldiers stationed at a military checkpoint on the road that leads to the holy site stopped 21-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Abu Iram around midday Saturday and took him into custody for questioning. The sources said Abu Iram is from the town of Yatta south of Hebron.

It remained unclear why Abu Iram was detained. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an they were looking into the case.

Israeli forces have detained a number of Palestinians near the mosque, many of whom were accused of planning to carry out attacks on Israeli forces, since a wave of unrest began in October 2015.

The entire Hebron district, as well as Hebron’s Old City, where the Ibrahimi Mosque is located, has been a flashpoint for the unrest, with a number of Palestinians being shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the mosque. While Israel alleges many of those were attempting to attack Israelis when they were shot, Palestinians and rights groups have disputed Israel’s version of events in a number of cases.

Mistreatment of Palestinians in the Hebron area has been common since the city was divided in the 1990s after a US-born settler, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinians inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The majority of the city was placed under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while the Old City and surrounding areas were placed under Israeli military control in a sector known as H2.