Israeli police arrest nine in east Jerusalem unrest

Israeli police said Thursday they arrested nine Palestinians during overnight clashes in east Jerusalem, with tensions surging in the city and across the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians launched a rare general strike Wednesday in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, including closing shops, in response to a days-long operation by Israeli security forces in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shuafat.

Israel is searching the camp for the suspected killer of 18-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Lazar, shot last Saturday at a Shuafat checkpoint.

With the manhunt for the woman soldier's killer ongoing, Israeli police said they had arrested nine Palestinians overnight who were "throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and attacking officers", raising to 23 the number of east Jerusalem residents detained since Wednesday.

Munib al-Qutob, an emergency worker, told AFP that there had been "lots of injuries from rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation".

A masked Palestinian in Shuafat, who asked that his name be withheld, told AFP that Israeli forces were "full of anger because they can't capture" the 22-year-old Palestinian suspect in the killing of the soldier.

Police said the Issawiya and Silwan neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem also saw overnight clashes, with two officers slightly injured.

Israeli police said Thursday that border police reservists were being called in to "maintain calm" in and around Jerusalem.

"The security forces will remain mobilised until the terrorists and those who sent them are arrested," Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem following the 1967 Six-Day War, a move not recognised by most of the international community.

Clashes between security forces and Palestinians in the area are common.

Bloodshed has been spiralling, particularly in the northern West Bank, where Israeli forces are conducting near daily raids pursuing suspects they accuse of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including fighters and civilians, in an escalation that began in March.

A dozen Palestinians were wounded Thursday in clashes between Jewish settlers and residents of the northern village of Huwara, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Two more were wounded in clashes in the village of Kafr Dan near Jenin, it added.

The army said it had detained six Palestinians on suspicion of "terrorist activities".