Israel forces fire on 1000s at West Bank funeral, injure 14

Clashes between the regime forces and funeral participants erupted Monday afternoon after 18-year-old Muhammad Abu Latifa was shot dead by Israeli forces in an early morning raid into the Qalandia refugee camp.

Six Palestinians were injured by live rounds while eight others were wounded after the Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullet at the crowd, the Ma’an news agency reported.

According to the report, the massive funeral procession began at Ramallah’s Palestine Medical Complex, and continued towards the mosque at the refugee camp where thousands prayed before the Palestinian teenager was buried at the Qalandia cemetery.

Clashes broke out as funeral participants hoisted Palestinian flags while chanting national songs and calling for revenge with youth in the crowd throwing stones and empty bottles at Israeli regime forces surrounding the site who responded by firing at the angry protesters.

There were conflicting reports on how Abu Latifa was killed. While the Tel Aviv regime claims he fell to his death while shot in his lower extremities as he attempted to escape arrest, the teen’s father insists that the Israeli forces killed his son in "cold blood" on the roof of the family's home, leaving him to bleed to death after attempting several times to arrest him without success.

Meanwhile, the head of the local popular resistance committees in the camp, Jamal Abu Latifa, who is also the victim’s uncle, reportedly stated that Muhammad was shot several times while trying to escape from the rooftop and that he was still alive after being arrested by the soldiers.

Reports also cited other witnesses as saying that the Israeli forces took the teenager into custody despite his critical injuries.

Muhammad is the 18th Palestinian killed by the Israeli forces so far this year and the fourth this month.

According to the report, another teenage resident of Qalandia refugee camp, identified as 17-year-old Muhammad Hani al-Kasbah, was also shot dead by an Israeli commander earlier this month after throwing a stone at an Israeli military vehicle.

While the Israeli commander claimed his life was in danger, video footage of the incident later confirmed witness accounts that al-Kasbah was running away from the officer when he was shot dead.