Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday evening kidnapped Palestinian astrophysicist Imad al-Barghouthi, 53, at Nabi Saleh military checkpoint, northwest of Ramallah.

According to local sources, Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint kidnapped Barghouthi and took him to an undeclared place.

The reasons of his kidnapping are unknown until now.

Barghouthi, from Beit Rima town near Ramallah, is a professor of theoretical space plasma physics at al-Quds University and has worked for some time at NASA in the United States.

His scientific work is widely published internationally in academic journals.

The IOF already kidnapped him on December 6, 2014 at al-Karama border crossing as he was trying to cross to Jordan in order to attend a scientific conference in the United Arab Emirates.

At the time, he was reportedly interrogated for participating in a mass march against Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

Source ; PNN