Israeli police rounded up 21 Palestinians in overnight raids in East Jerusalem, according to local residents on Monday.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that Israeli forces raided several homes in Jerusalem's Old City and At-Tur neighbourhood and took them into custody, they said.

No reason was provided for the arrests.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Mideast conflict, with Palestinians insisting that East Jerusalem - occupied by Israel since 1967 - should serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

International law continues to view East Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.