RAMALLAH, May 30: The Israeli army captured at least 12 Palestinians and injured as many civilians on Thursday as its forces raided autonomous regions across the West Bank while keeping the population cooped up in their towns.

In what have become daily swoops across the region, Israeli troops seized suspects in Jenin, in the north, Al Khalil, in the south, and near Tukarem, in the west.

In Ramallah, all but one checkpoint were sealed by the army amid fears of suicide bombers heading south on the road to occupied Al Quds, just a few kilometres away.

Hospital official said seven people, including a child, were shot and wounded trying to navigate their way around the obstacles and maintain a semblance of normal life.

Israeli tanks and jeeps moved into Jenin, with troops checking vehicles and searching houses, Palestinian security officials said. Two men were arrested after a car chase between a checkpoint and the town centre.

The Israelis were thought to be looking for Jamal Abu Heija, the Hamas local chief in Jenin’s refugee camp.

Shots were subsequently fired at the army who responded in kind and asked for reinforcements, Israeli military sources added.

A curfew was slapped on the town, where a Palestinian civilian was shot dead in a raid on Tuesday after a suicide bomber killed a 56-year-old woman and her baby granddaughter near Tel Aviv.

The army earlier staged two brief incursions, one in the autonomous Palestinian sector of Al Khalil in the south, where four wanted Palestinians were netted, and the other in the village of Faroun, south of the town of Tulkarem.

Six people were arrested there.

Around 20 armoured vehicles, including tanks and jeeps, supported by assault helicopters were involved in the Al Khalil operation, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said.

They said the Israeli forces withdrew in the early hours of the morning, and that two of the detained Palestinians were members of Hamas.

Israeli troops continued to occupy the town of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, for a fourth day.

A young Palestinian woman was arrested in Bethlehem on Wednesday while reportedly heading off to blow herself up in Israel, a day after four Israelis were gunned down in the West Bank.

Another 16-year-old girl was arrested after trying to stab a border guard near the town on Thursday.

On Wednesday, nervous Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian “by mistake” near Nablus after he threw a watering can at them and fled, Israeli radio said.

Israeli police were on the alert and carrying out numerous checks at entry points into Israeli cities following warnings of attacks planned by Palestinians, especially in the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv regions.

They also entered the refugee camp of Shuafat and village of Anata, just north of occupied Al Quds, imposing a curfew and searching for Palestinians as fears of a new suicide bombing increased.—AFP