Palestinian media reports some 20 protesters hit by live fire in West Bank; Israel confirms two injured in riots
Dozens of Palestinians were injured in violent clashes with Israeli security troops in a series of riots in the West Bank Sunday afternoon, according to Palestinian reports.
In the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, the Israel Defense Forces said security forces used Ruger sniper rifles to disperse rioters throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at soldiers patrolling the nearby Nitzana checkpoint, and confirmed that at least one person was injured in the clashes, Israel Radio reported.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, eight students from the city’s technical university were injured by live fire when IDF forces entered the campus. Medics said one man who was shot in the abdomen was in serious condition and dozens of others were treated for teargas inhalation, the Palestinian Ma’an News reported.
Red Crescent officials said a rubber-coated bullet fired by Israeli security forces struck one of their ambulances.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinian protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails and rolled burning tires toward Israeli forces near al-Bireh, a town between Ramallah and the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
The IDF confirmed to AFP that one protester was shot and injured during the clashes.
“The force identified a rioter with a lit firebomb in hand,” a military spokeswoman said. “The force fired at the rioter… and a hit was confirmed.”
The extent of the man’s injuries was not immediately known.
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported at least 12 Palestinians were injured by live fire in the al-Bireh clashes, including a man who was driving nearby and who was struck by a rubber-coated bullet fired by Israeli security forces.
The clashes come hours after a stabbing attack at an entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City and another near a bus stop left two people wounded and an attacker killed.
Early on Sunday, a 38-year-old Palestinian stabbed an Israeli Border Police officer at Damascus Gate, lightly wounding him. The attacker, who was identified as Bassem Salah from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was shot dead by officers at the scene.
Later in the morning, a Nepalese woman was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack near a bus stop in Jerusalem, after which the terrorist fled. A 17-year-old Palestinian suspect from Hebron was arrested at a construction site near the scene shortly after.
As reported by The Times of Israel