Palestinian man shot by Israeli troops dies of wounds

A Palestinian man shot and wounded by Israeli forces last week has died of his wounds at a hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, local media reports say.

According to official Palestinian news agency Palestine al-Youm, Shawqi Jabr Obeid, a 37-year-old Palestinian from the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza succumbed to his injuries on Friday morning.

He had been injured by Israeli gunfire last Friday during clashes with protesters near the border fence along the besieged Gaza Strip.

At least seven Palestinians lost their lives and nearly 150 sustained injuries after Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinian protesters in the eastern part of the blockaded enclave.  Israeli troopers fired live bullets to disperse the Palestinian protesters east of the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City on last Friday.

The latest death comes a day after Riyad Ibrahim Dar Youssef, a 46-year-old Palestinian from the al-Janiya Village in occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, was pronounced dead after he was assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the volatile region. He was targeted on his way back home from picking olives with his family.

Figures show that at least 34 Palestinians have been killed in fierce clashes with Israelis over the past two weeks. At least seven Israelis have been killed during the same period.

‘Day of rage’

Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad have called for Palestinians to march across the occupied territories following Friday prayers in a “day of rage.”

Israeli forces have announced heavier deployments across the occupied Palestinian lands and near the border fence along Gaza.

Meanwhile, members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the growing violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.

PLO joins calls for resistance

Meanwhile, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has also called for resistance in the face of heightened Israeli violence.

The PLO also asked officials with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to ignore calls for quelling Palestinian resistance.

According to Arabic-language Palestine Al-Youm news agency, Israeli forces on Friday also gunned down a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) after accusing him of stabbing an Israeli soldier. Israeli sources say the trooper did not sustain serious injuries in the attack.

The development comes amid deadly tensions between the Tel Aviv regime and Palestinians triggered by Israel’s imposition on August 26 of sweeping restrictions on entries into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds and Israeli settlers’ repeated attacks on the mosque.

Palestinians are furious at the settler violence and a plan by Israelis to change the status quo of the al-Aqsa Mosque, which is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

International condemnations are pouring in over the Israeli crackdown, with some observers warning that Tel Aviv’s provocations could open the door to a new Intifida, or a full-scale uprising, against the regime.

‘Israel responsible’

Meanwhile, Stephen Lendman, an author and radio host from Chicago, in an interview with Press TV’s Website on Friday accused the Western media of misreporting and covering up the crimes being committed by the Tel Aviv regime against Palestinians.

“Conflict in occupied Palestine continues raging; what is going on is completely misreported in the Western media and in Israeli media,” Lendman said.

He said what is going on across the occupied Palestinian lands is “premeditated terror and naked aggression” by Israel. He also denounced the US’s support for and its silence on the Israeli crimes.

Lendman also said that Israeli troops were responsible for provoking violence at the holy al-Aqsa Mosque compound by repeatedly “rampaging” the site and “forcibly removing worshipers.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk