Israeli forces shoot, injure Palestinian youth in Gaza Strip

Israeli military forces have reportedly shot and wounded a young Palestinian man in the blockaded Gaza Strip near the border with the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Israeli troopers opened fire on the unnamed Palestinian youth east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp, which is in the city of Deir al-Balah and located over 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) south of Gaza City, wounding him in the foot, Arabic-language Safa news agency reported.

The Palestinian lay on the ground for a while, before a Palestinian ambulance transported him to al-Aqsa Hospital. Palestinian medical sources have described his injury as moderate.

The development came only two days after two Palestinians sustained gunshot wounds when Israeli military forces clashed with a group of Palestinian protesters in the northern part of the occupied West Bank and fired gunshots to disperse the crowd.

On Friday, dozens of Palestinians held a demonstration in the town of Kafr Qaddum, located about 13 kilometers (eight miles) west of Nablus, against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel as well as the closure of the town’s southern road.

Murad Shteiwi, the coordinator for Popular Resistance in Kafr Qaddum, said violence broke out when Israeli soldiers intervened and fired live bullets to break up the protest.

Khalid Murad Shteiwi, an 11-year-old boy, was wounded in the clashes. Israeli soldiers also shot and injured a 45-year-old man as he was transferring the wounded boy to an ambulance.

Apart from the Gaza Strip, the occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions triggered by Israel’s imposition in August 2015 of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

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