Middle East Monitor / September 18, 2021
Israeli occupation forces on Friday wounded 217 Palestinians protesting against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) disclosed in a statement.
The PRCS revealed that 217 protesters were injured, including 35 shot by rubber-coated metal bullets and 182 subjected to suffocation after inhaling tear gas.
Eyewitnesses told reporters that fierce clashes broke out on Friday afternoon between dozens of protesters and Israeli soldiers in the villages of Beita and Beit Dajan, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Clashes in Beita have been ongoing for almost four months in protest against establishing a settlement outpost on lands owned by the villagers.
The protesters on Friday waved Palestinian flags, chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation and threw stones at the Israeli soldiers who fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse them.
Meanwhile, medics said that dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Al-Mughayyir, a village east of Ramallah, in protest against Israel’s settlement expansion, according to Marzouq Abu N’iem, the head of the village.
The village head told reporters that the Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at a peaceful demonstration rejecting the closure of the entrance to the village.
Palestinian security sources said that similar protests and clashes broke out near the cities of Qalqilya and Hebron/Al-Khalil in the West Bank, adding that several Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas.
In a press statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned: “The brutal Israeli army repression of peaceful protests and demonstrations to reject Israeli settlement in the West Bank.”
A statement issued by the ministry announced: “The Israeli army practices against the Palestinian protesters violate international law,” adding: “The silence of the international community encourages Israel to carry on with these practices.”
