Palestinian sources reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Monday, four Palestinians, after the army tried to force a young Palestinian woman to be hand searched by the army in the center of Hebron.The incident took place at the electronic gate installed by the army at the entrance of the Ash-Shuhada Street, in the center of the city.
The sources said that as Sondos Al-Azza, 19, was trying to cross, the army stopped her and said that they must search her by hand; the young woman refused.
Al-Azza, from Tal Romedia in Hebron, asked the soldiers to bring a female soldier to search her, similar to previous similar instances, but the soldiers claimed no female soldiers were around, and demanded to search her.
A number of locals tried to intervene, but the army attacked them, leading to a fistfight. The soldiers kidnapped the young woman and three young men identified as Issa Amro, Ahmad Amro and Imad Al-Atrash.
Following the incident, local youths hurled stones and empty bottles at the soldiers who fired gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets, several Palestinians have been treated for the effects of teargas inhalation.
Resident Mofeed Ash-Sharabaty told the Maan News Agency that the young men only tried to ask the army to refrain from humiliating the young woman, but the soldiers attacked them.
He added that Hebron Governor, Kamel Hmeid, and officers of the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO) held a meeting with Israeli DCO officers in an attempt to reduce tension, and the army agreed to “investigate the issue”.
