Israel arrested 2,200 Palestinians so far in 2023: advocacy group

Israel has arrested around 2,200 Palestinians so far in 2023, a detainee advocacy group said on Wednesday.

Half of the cases took place in occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club revealed in a statement reported by Turkish news agency Anadolu.

It comes amid increased Israeli abuses in the eastern section of the city, which Israel illegally annexed in 1980, and the rest of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam, twice on Wednesday.

The forces entered the mosque after Ramadan evening prayers, attacking worshippers with sound bombs and rubber bullets before expelling them, The New Arab's Arabic sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Witnesses said a number of Palestinians were injured and had to be taken for treatment by ambulance.

In the earlier attack on Wednesday, hundreds of Palestinians were detained and injured.

Since the beginning of Ramadan, Israeli troops have tried to stop Palestinian worshippers from spending nights inside Al-Aqsa in a religious practice known as itikaaf.

The escalation at the site raises concern of a repeat of May 2021, when Israel conducted an 11-day bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip that killed more than 250 Palestinians.

Also on Wednesday evening, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and injured by a settler in the Old City of Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located.

An eyewitness told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that a shot was heard in the area and when local people went out to investigate, they found that the teenage boy had been shot by an Israeli settler in his hand.

Israel has employed repeated and often deadly military raids in the West Bank in recent months, particularly in the cities of Nablus and Jenin.

Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 90 Palestinians so far in 2023.

Agencies contributed to this report.