Israeli forces attack Palestinians with rubber bullets, tear gas

By Hacer Baser

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Israeli forces attacked Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus early Thursday.

According to Palestine's official Wafa news agency, Israeli troops intensively used tear gas to make way for the entry of Jewish settlers into the area around Joseph's Tomb, a mausoleum in Nablus.

Palestinians were affected by the gas despite being in their homes.

Later, Israeli forces attacked Palestinians with rubber bullets and tear gas.

No statements have been issued by Palestinian health care authorities or the Israeli army.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers were reported to have confiscated a large sum of money from an exchange office in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The owner of the office, Galib Merish, said in a video that the soldiers confiscated $130,000, 40,000 dinars (around $27), 300,000 shekels ($92,531) and €20,000 ($24,337), which in total reportedly corresponded to $310,000.

Joseph's Tomb is regarded as a holy place by Jews, who believe that Prophet Joseph's bones were brought from Egypt and buried there.

Palestinian archeologists, however, say the mausoleum has a history of only a few centuries and is a monument to a local scholar named Sheikh Yousif Dwaykat, not Prophet Joseph.

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara