Israeli troops have used tear gas to disperse dozens of Palestinian villagers, including several schoolchildren, near the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, according to a local official.

Israeli forces have also arrested 16 Palestinians in overnight raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the army said in a Monday statement.

جيش الاحتلال يطلق قنابل الغاز صوب طلبة المدارس في قرية بورين جنوب غرب نابلس pic.twitter.com/LXavVfcfOT — وكالة شهاب (@ShehabAgency) March 12, 2018

Translation: Israeli occupation forces throw tear gas canisters near school students in the village of Burin, southwest of Nablus.

Burin land confiscations

Yahia Kadous, head of Burin village's municipal council, told Anadolu news agency that Israeli forces entered the village, with a view of informing the council of an Israeli decision to confiscate a parcel of land owned by a local secondary school.

According to Kadous, however, council members refused to meet Israeli army personnel or receive any notifications.

"Afterwards, soldiers started firing tear gas canisters at the school, terrifying students," he said, adding that the army sought to confiscate Palestinian land in the village on the pretext of "maintaining security".

In recent years, Kadous asserted, the Israeli authorities had seized roughly 1,000 square meters of the school's property and now sought to confiscate more.

Surrounded by three, Jewish-only, illegal settlements, Burin is the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops and Jewish settlers, who occasionally attack the school and Palestinian homes in the village.

Earlier, settlers reached lands belonging to Burin & began throwing stones at a farmer working there. The incident escalated into reciprocal stone-throwing, during which soldiers arrived at & responded with tear gas, rubber bullets & apparently live fire at the Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/KNKPzwpdGY — Yesh Din (@YeshDin) March 7, 2018

Overnight raids

Israeli forces have arrested 16 Palestinians in overnight raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the army said in a Monday statement.

According to Palestinian figures, roughly 6,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including dozens of women and 300 minors.

Some 450 of these are under what Israel calls "administrative detention" where they face no trial or charge. Twelve members of the Palestinian Legislative Council also remain in Israeli custody.

The Israeli army frequently carries out arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank under the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians.