The Israeli army has detained 18 Palestinians in overnight raids carried out in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to a Palestinian NGO.

"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 Tuesday 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 the Jewish state, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. As part of interim peace deals in the 1990s, the West Bank was carved up into autonomous Palestinian areas — A and B — and Area C, which is home to nearly 400,000 Israeli settlers.

The Palestinians seek all of the territories captured by Israel in 1967 for a future independent state. They say that Area C, home to an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Palestinians, is crucial to a future Palestine's economic development

The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down two years ago without any progress. In the meantime, Israel continued to expand settlements while limiting Palestinian development, according to Palestinian and international critics of Israeli policy.