Israeli forces injure dozens of anti-settlement protesters in West Bank
Israeli forces have injured dozens of Palestinians protesting against Tel Aviv settlement expansion in the Palestinian lands.
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The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said on Friday that five Palestinian protesters were hit by rubber bullets during clashes with Israeli forces in Burqa Village and the town of Beita in Nablus Province on Friday.
According to the report, 43 other Palestinians suffered breathing difficulties due to inhaling tear gas used by the Israeli troops to disperse the anti-settlement protests in Burqa, Beita and the village of Beit Dajan in Nablus.
Three other protesters suffered different injuries during the clashes in the West Bank province.
Since May, Beita has seen intensified clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting against a settlement outpost that has been established on Sobeih Mountain by settlers under the protection of Israeli forces.
In the village of Kafr Qaddum, east of the West Bank city of Qalqilya, six Palestinians taking part in the weekly anti-settlement protests on Friday were hit by rubber bullets and scores of others suffered breathing difficulties due to tear gas used by the Israeli troops against the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, clashes also erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, on Friday.
During the clashes, an 18-year-old Palestinian was injured by live ammunition fired by the Israeli forces, who also used tear gas, rubber bullets and sound bombs against the Palestinians.
Also on Friday, dozens of Palestinians suffered breathing difficulties due to inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops who stormed the area of Bab al-Zawiya area in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Friday warned that the Israeli military and settlers would pay the price for rising settler violence against Palestinians after an Israeli settler ran a 63-year-old woman over near the town of Sinjil, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah, earlier in the day.
“Rising setter terrorism against our people in the occupied West Bank will be confronted with an escalation of the act of resistance,” Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, said on Friday. “The [Israeli] occupation army and its settlers will pay the price for these crimes.”
Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — during the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza. More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank. All the settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the settlement activities in several resolutions.
