Israelis fire tear gas at Palestinians during raid into West Bank village

Several Palestinians have been hurt after Israeli forces stormed a village in the occupied West Bank and fired tear gas during clashes with the villagers.   

Local Palestinian media said on Saturday that Israeli troops launched a raid on the houses and property of Palestinians in the village of Beit Ummar near the southern city of al-Khalil, also known as Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

The reports said clashes erupted when the Israelis used excessive force to confiscate a vehicle belonging to a Palestinian anti-settlement activist, identified as Ibrahim Khalil Kamel Ikhleil.

They said the Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters to disperse the Palestinians who were protesting against the raid into the al-Bayyada area of the village.

A number of protesters suffered gas inhalation, the reports said, adding that the injured were treated at the scene.

Palestinians have been protesting Israel’s expansion of settlements near al-Khalil and surrounding areas. The Israelis have built settler units in the area in defiance of international calls on the regime to stop the illegal activity.

In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council adopted a rare resolution, condemning the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The measure came after the United States, Israel’s main ally, abstained in the vote.

The clashes near al-Khalil came as Israeli military troops on Saturday opened live rounds of fire on fishermen sailing off Gaza’s northern coast, forcing them to head back to the city’s shores.

Under a truce agreement between Israelis and the Palestinians in 2014, Tel Aviv is barred from restricting the movement of Palestinian fishermen within six nautical miles off Gaza’s coast. However, Israeli troops repeatedly fire at fishermen and farmers who have no other means of earning a livelihood in the besieged enclave.

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