GAZA, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli army naval forces arrested early on Monday four Palestinian fishermen in the sea off the Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses and security sources reported.

    The witnesses said that Israeli naval ships chased two Palestinian fishers in the sea off Rafah early Monday morning and detained four people on board after stopping them by shots.

    Palestinian security sources said that the Hamas police naval forces opened fire at the Israeli naval ships in a bid to repel them but failed, adding that the four Palestinians were taken away by Israeli forces for interrogation.

    Israel has recently tightened the siege on the Gaza Strip, which has been there for several years, since the Islamic Hamas movement violently took control of the enclave after it routed the security forces loyal to the moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in mid June.

    However, the Israeli arrest operations were not only confined in the Hamas-ruled Gaza but also in the West Bank controlled by President Abbas.

    In the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli Radio in Arabic quoted Israeli army officials as saying that Israeli soldiers detained a 17-year-old Palestinian girl with a knife, accusing her of planning an attack on one of the soldiers in the city.

    In Tulkarem, a northern West Bank town, local residents said that Israeli soldiers took away five Palestinians, who are wanted by Israel.