Israeli soldiers abducted, late on Wednesday evening until dawn hours Thursday, at least nine Palestinians from several parts of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has confirmed.

The PPS said the soldiers abducted four Palestinians, identified as Aseed Shehada, 25, As’ad Safadi, 27, Firas Shehada, 22, and Abdullah Shehada, from Orif village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

It added that the soldiers also abducted Ala Tawfiq Ghawadra, from Bir al-Basha village, southwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, while crossing a military roadblock near Ya’bad town, west of the city.

In addition, the soldiers abducted four Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem; two of them identified as Mahdi Abu ‘Assab and Mohammad Abu ‘Assab.

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers, and police officers, assaulted many worshipers in Bab al-Asbat and Bab al-‘Amoud, just as they were leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and abducted three of them.

The soldiers also attacked many Palestinians, sitting in the Bab al-‘Amoud square, especially on its famous stone stairs, and hurled concussion grenades at them, before forcing everybody to leave, without any justification.