Tens of Palestinians Suffer Suffocation as Israeli Occupation Forces Fire Gas Bombs against Demonstrators

OCCUPIED AL-QUDS, (ST)- Tens of Palestinians on Friday suffered suffocation after the Israeli occupation threw gas bombs on a demonstration in Kafr Qaddoum village in the West Bank.

Every week, the locals in Kafr Qaddoum village organize a demonstration protesting against the Israeli occupation settlement building activities and demanding the opening of the village’s street which has been closed for more than 16 years, according to the Syrian news Agency SANA.

The Palestinian WAFA News Agency quoted Murad Shtewi, the coordinator of the popular resistance in the village, as saying that the occupation forces stormed the village and fired gas bombs against the Palestinian demonstrators, causing tens of suffocation cases among them.

 Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers near Ramallah, Injure One

Meanwhile in the city of Ramallah of the West Bank, local sources said that at least one farmer was injured as Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian farmers working in a farm near the village of Beitin, northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank.

Mohammad Abu Samra, a local activist, told WAFA that about 25 Jewish settlers protected by the Israeli occupation forces broke into the farm, physically assaulted some of the farmers and injured one of them in the head.

Earlier in the day, a number of Israeli settlers, under the protection of occupation forces, broke into the Judour archeological area in al-Khalil city of the West bank and made a provocative tour there.

According to WAFA, Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property is common in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities. It includes arsons of property and mosques, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees and attacks on vulnerable homes among others.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israeli settlers live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank in violation of international law, the agency said.

Open-ended sit-in launched against Israeli settlement project east of al-Quds

In the meantime, an open-ended sit-in has started at Al-Mintar locality, east of occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem), in protest against Israel’s plan to build an illegal settlement outpost in the area.

The new settlement outpost is part of a series of measures by the Israeli occupation authorities, aimed at dividing the West Bank into separate cantons, said Walid Assaf, Chairman of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

Earlier in the day, Israeli occupation forces closed all roads leading to Al-Mintar in an effort to prevent the sit-in, but many Palestinians, including government officials, were able to reach the site via alternative, longer roads. Some were even forced to walk on foot to reach the sit-in area.

Hamda Mustafa