Dozens of Palestinians injured by Israeli forces across West Bank

By Mohammad Ghefari

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured on Friday when Israeli forces fired live and rubber-coated bullets and sprayed tear gas in rallies across the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement that its medical teams treated 19 Palestinians injured by the Israeli teargas in the villages of Beita and Beit Dajan, northern West Bank.

Murad Shtaiwi, the coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committees in the town of Kafr Qaddum, Qalqilya, said three Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and dozens faced the risk of suffocation.

At the entrance of Ramallah city, central West Bank, Palestinians were confronted by the Israeli forces as they were protesting the Israeli assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque this morning.

Meanwhile, in southern West Bank, clashes erupted between Palestinians and the Israeli army following the Friday prayers in the Bab al-Zawiya area, central Hebron city, where a Palestinian was transferred to hospital due to an injury by a live bullet fired by Israeli troops, according to a statement by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Every Friday, Palestinians organize marches against settlements and the separation wall in a number of villages and towns in the West Bank.

Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate that there are about 650,000 settlers in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, who live in 164 settlements and 116 outposts.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara