Israeli forces launched widespread arrest raids across East Jerusalem overnight, detaining 57 Palestinians, locals and a police spokesman said Wednesday.

Residents told Ma’an that Israeli police stormed the Silwan, al-Isawiya, at-Tur, Suwwana, and Shufat neighborhoods of Jerusalem, in addition to the Old City, and arrested dozens of young Palestinian men and teenagers.

Police officers broke into homes without warning, damaging property and ransacking rooms before making arrests, locals said.

Clashes broke out during raids in at-Tur and al-Isawiya, with Palestinians throwing stones and Israeli forces firing rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at protesters.

Medics for the Union of Arab Paramedics treated 26 young men who were hit by rubber-coated bullets, witnesses said.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an 57 Palestinians had been arrested overnight for recent “stone-throwing incidents.”

“There are ongoing police investigations,” Rosenfeld said.

A lawyer for the prisoner’s rights group Addameer confirmed to Ma’an that over 50 Palestinians had been arrested and taken to detention centers in Lod and Ramla for interrogation.

The young Palestinians will appear in courts later in the day, the lawyer said.

He identified them as:

Ammar Issam Shawwa, Jihad Miree, Munir Ibrahim Abbasi, Shihab Salih Shweiki, Anas Darwish, Muhammad Ghasib Ubeid, Salama Ghasib Ubeid, Yazan Ubeid, Taha Ayyash, Ashraf Ubeid, Musab Asim Ubeid, Muhammad Abd al-Nasser Ubeid, Muhammad Akram Abu al-Hawa, his brother Ahmad, Fahd Abu Sbeitan, Qusay Khwies, Muhammad Jasir, Wisam abu al-Hawa, Ther Abu Lafi, Asim Najib, Munir al-Basiti, Ayman al-Basiti, Muhammad al-Basiti, Mahmoud Shawish, Muhammad Tamimi, Anwar Arafah, Fadi Arafah, Taha Arafah, Adnan Shahwan, Muhammad Suyouri, Husam Shahwan, Muhammad Abd al-Wahid, Muataz Jabir, Ammar Husari, Eyhab Hamdan, Mahmoud Hamdan, Mousa Hamdan, Nizar Hamdan, Ammar Zaytoun, Ghanim Mustafa, Muhammad Ghazzawi, Muhammad Natsha, Mustafa Natsha, Mutaz Rajabi, Mahmoud Dweik, Mahmoud Shawish, Muhammad Tamimi, Ghanim Mustafa, Ahmad Awwad, Ahmad Dkeidik, Iyad Dkeidik, Bassam Haytham Hijazi, Hashim al-Atrash, Ahmad Awwad, Mahmoud Hamdan al-Haddad, his brother Mousa, and Mutaz Rajabi.

Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma’an that soldiers arrested 12 Palestinians in the rest of the West Bank, bringing the total number detained overnight to 69.

East Jerusalem, especially the Shufat neighborhood, has been the site of frequent clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces amid heavy tensions following the kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir by Israeli extremists.

On Sunday, Israeli forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at a memorial march marking 40 days since Abu Khdeir’s death, leading to clashes and arrests, witnesses say.

Israeli forces have also arrested several members of the Abu Khdeir family following Muhammad’s murder.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)