Some 270 Palestinians were injured in the occupied West Bank as they clashed with Israel Defense Forces troops, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds protesting illegal Israeli settlements.
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered on Friday in the town of Beit Ummar, northwest of Hebron, to mourn the death of a protester who had been killed by the Israeli occupation forces a day before.
نحو 200 إصابة بينهم 26 بالرصاص خلال مواجهات مع قوات الاحتلال بمحيط جبل صبيح في بيتا جنوب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/gbi88dalDM
— Iyad Drimly (@abualsaher) July 30, 2021
Shawkat Awad, 20, was shot in the head and abdomen on Thursday during clashes that erupted after the funeral of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was also killed by Israeli troops earlier in the week. The mourners carried Awad’s body through the town, with the funeral procession spiraling into new clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Clashes also erupted at the village of Beita, near Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank. The town has seen numerous protests since May, when illegal Israeli settlers moved in and started setting up homes and building a road on a disputed stretch of land.
Images circulating online showed dozens of Palestinians using slingshots to hurl rocks at the Israeli military as burning tires let off thick clouds of black smoke – apparently, an effort to conceal themselves from the Israeli troops seen shooting at protesters.
The clashes left around 270 Palestinians injured across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. While the majority of the victims were exposed to tear gas, around 50 were injured by rubber-coated bullets, while another seven reportedly suffered wounds as the result of live fire, the Red Crescent told the AFP news agency.
(RT, PC, Social Media)
