By Anees Bargouthi

RAMALLAH, (AA): Five Palestinians were injured early Tuesday when Israeli forces raided a number of shops in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces confiscated lathing and blacksmith machines from several shops in Bethlehem and the northern Doha town on claims they were being used to manufacture weapons.

Dozens of angry Palestinian youths gathered to protest the raid, but Israeli forces used teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to disperse them, the witnesses said.

Meanwhile, Israeli army forces also detained eight Palestinians in overnight raids in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said four Palestinians were arrested from areas near the northern West Bank cities of Tulkarem and Qalqiliya, while four others were detained from Ramallah and Hebron.

The Israeli army frequently carries out sweeping arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem that ostensibly target Palestinians “wanted” by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Currently, over 7,000 Palestinians are languishing in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs.

[Photo: A Palestinian protester throws stone to the Israeli security forces during protest in support of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, at Huwara village in Nablus, West Bank on August 18, 2016. Photograoehr: Nedal Eshtayah/AA]