HEBRON: Israeli troops arrested five Palestinians in the West Bank overnight, including two men with ties to the radical Islamic Jihad movement, witnesses told AFP on Tuesday.
In a pre-dawn raid in Beit Ummar village just north of the southern city of Hebron, troops arrested Wahid Abu Marya, 45, who spent years in Israeli prisons over his ties to Islamic Jihad, witnesses said.
They said dozens of troops had surrounded his house at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT) and opened fire when he initially failed to respond to calls to come out, causing part of the house to collapse. They then arrested him.
Youths in the village pelted troops with stones, prompting them to fire tear gas, with several people treated for tear gas inhalation, an AFP correspondent said.
Witnesses said another Islamic Jihad activist, Mohammed Najjar, 30, who was released from an Israeli jail last year after serving his sentence, was arrested by troops in Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.
In another overnight operation in Hebron's Old City, troops arrested Jamila Shaldi, 50, and her son Abdelrahman, 20, residents said.
And in the nearby Hebron Hills, witnesses reported seeing 47-year-old Said Rabbah being beaten, then arrested, by troops. They said his 20-year-old daughter Maryam was also beaten, but not arrested.
The Israeli military confirmed that a man had been arrested in Beit Ummar, with a spokesman saying it was part of a joint army and border police operation "to prevent terror activity" in the village.
"During the operation, an armed terror operative barricaded himself into his house," he told AFP, saying troops had used various "means" to entice him out of the house.
A military source confirmed the use of live fire, saying the suspect had been transferred to the security forces for questioning.
The source also confirmed one person had been arrested in Al-Fawwar camp and handed over to the security forces for questioning -- usually a euphemism for the Shin Bet internal security service.
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