Israeli forces arrested four Palestinian fishermen off the coast near the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah early on Wednesday, Palestinian security sources said.

The sources said Israeli gunboats got closer to the beach and seized the four fishermen who were fishing in the area of some three nautical miles in which Israel allows the Palestinians to fish.

The sources, however, said that they don't have any information where the Israeli naval forces took the four Najjar family members.

The gun vessels also damaged the fishing boats by machinegun fire, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army also detained 17 Palestinian in the West Bank in its raids in different parts of the occupied territory.

According to the Palestinian sources, most of the arrests were conducted in Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron.

Israel carried out detention campaigns on daily basis, targeting what it calls "wanted activists."

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2009)