Israel detains 18 Palestinians including 3 minors

The Israeli army has rounded up 18 Palestinians in overnight raids carried out in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, said a Palestinian NGO on Tuesday.

"Israeli army troops detained nine Palestinians after raiding their homes in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil [Hebron]," the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement.

"Another six Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Tubas and Jenin," it added.

According to the same NGO, Israeli forces on Monday also detained three Palestinian minors in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Israeli army frequently carries out sweeping arrest campaigns in the occupied territories that ostensibly target Palestinians who are "wanted" by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Over 7,000 Palestinians are currently languishing in prisons throughout Israel, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs.

Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem after the 1967 Mideast war.

Interim peace deals were made in 1990 and as a result, the West Bank was divided into autonomous Palestinian areas A and B while area C has close to 400,000 Israeli settlers.

The Palestinians want all of the territories back from Israel for a future independent state.

The last round of US-brokered peace talks between Palestine and Israel broke down couple of years ago without any progress.

Israel, however, continued to expand its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem despite international criticism from all sides including the United Nations, EU and US.