News / Palestine

3 injured as Israeli forces attack Palestinian rally in West Bank

Friday, 19 August 2016 5:16 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 19 August 2016 5:17 PM ]

Israeli military forces aim their rifles at Palestinian protesters during a weekly demonstration in the town of Kafr Qaddum, the occupied West Bank, on August 19, 2016. ©Palestine al-Aan news agency

Three Palestinians have 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 weekly demonstration in the town of Kafr Qaddum, located about 13 kilometers (eight miles) west of Nablus, against the closure of the town’s southern road.

Murad Shteiwi, the coordinator for the Popular Resistance in Kafr Qaddum, said violence broke out when the Israeli soldiers intervened and fired rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas canisters and stun grenades to break up the protest.

Tens of people suffered tear gas inhalation, and had to be transferred to nearby hospitals to receive medical treatment.

Shteiwi added that Israeli military forces also deliberately damaged the network supplying Kafr Qaddum with drinking water for the seventh time in a row, causing a three-hour outage before Palestinian plumbers managed to fix the problem.

*Palestinian protesters throw stones at Israeli military forces during a weekly demonstration in the town of Kafr Qaddum, the occupied West Bank, on August 19, 2016. ©Palestine al-Aan news agency*

Clashes were also reported in the village of Bil'in, located 12 kilometers (seven miles) west of the city of Ramallah, when local residents staged a demonstration in solidarity with hunger striking prisoners Bilal Kayed and Balboul brothers.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or arrests in the clashes.

Israel re-arrests former Palestinian prisoner

Early on Friday, Israeli military forces re-arrested former Palestinian prisoner Sufian Fakhri Abdah after they raided his family home in the southern Jabel Mukaber neighborhood of East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Israeli soldiers reportedly transferred the 37-year-old Palestinian to a prison in Jerusalem al-Quds.

*Palestinians celebrate as former Palestinian prisoner Sufian Fakhri Abdah arrives in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood of East Jerusalem al-Quds on August 15, 2016. ©Palestinian Information Center*

Abdah had been released on Monday after spending 14 years in Israeli jails on charges of affiliation to the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.

The occupied territories have witnessed a fresh bout of tensions ever since Israeli forces restricted the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 230 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of last October.

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