Israel forces tighten security in West Bank village after Palestinian fighters wound soldier

Israeli forces imposed tightened security measures on an occupied West Bank village on Friday after gunfire from Palestinian fighters wounded an Israeli soldier.

Israeli forces searched surveillance camera recording devices in shops and homes in Deir Sharaf, located near Nablus, local sources were cited as saying by The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The forces closed the Deir Sharaf junction situated between the cities of Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm, stopping vehicles for several hours as they searched them, according to the sources.

It came as Maen Al-Shaer, a Palestinian who was previously imprisoned by Israel, was arrested by Israeli forces on Friday following a raid on his family's home in Burqa, another village near Nablus.

Israeli forces had at night also arrested a young man who was passing through a military checkpoint near Nablus, a city that has faced repeated deadly military raids.

In Nabi Saleh, a village in the Ramallah province, a Palestinian child, aged two, was shot in the head by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, sources said.

Israeli soldiers opened fire on a vehicle at Nabi Saleh's entrance, wounding the child and father, activist Bilal Tamimi was cited as saying by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The father was shot in the arm.

Israeli settlers on Thursday cut down dozens of olive trees, and vines in lands belonging to the town of Beit Ummar near Hebron, media activist Mohammad Awad said.

Settlers also burned swathes of land in the town of Qusra in Nablus province, said activist Fuad Hassan.

In Burqa, settlers destroyed tombstones at a cemetery, said Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who follows settlement activity in the West Bank's north.

Israeli violence towards Palestinians is routine.

So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 160 Palestinians.

Settlements breach international law. They are considered a key barrier to a workable two-state solution as they carve up Palestinian land.

There are more than 700,000 settlers residing illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.