Israeli forces shoot, injure 10 Palestinians in West Bank

Nearly a dozen Palestinians have sustained gunshot wounds after Israeli military forces stormed a refugee camp in the southern part of the West Bank amid ongoing tensions between protesters and Israeli troops in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Informed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language Safa news agency that Israeli troopers raided Arrub refugee camp, located 15 kilometers south of Bethlehem, on Wednesday, prompting skirmishes with local residents.

The Israeli forces fired live and rubber-coated steel bullets and used excessive amounts of tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The sources added that three young Palestinian men were struck with live bullets, while seven others were hit with rubber bullets.

The area was then covered with a cloud of smoke and dozens of protesters suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Meanwhile, unidentified armed men have fatally shot a municipal night guard in Kafr Qasim city, located about 20 kilometers east of Tel Aviv.

Local sources identified the victim as 27-year-old Hamad Badair.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a flashpoint Islamic site, which is also holy to Jews. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

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