World, Middle East

Palestinians hurt in W. Bank clashes with Israeli army

Clashes erupt in West Bank after Palestinians stage Friday rallies against Israel’s decades-long occupation

Ekip  | 23.03.2018 - Update : 23.03.2018
Palestinians hurt in W. Bank clashes with Israeli army

Palestinian Territory

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine 

Dozens of Palestinians on Friday were injured in clashes with Israeli troops in different parts of the occupied West Bank, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent based in the area.

Clashes erupted after Friday prayers when Palestinians staged demonstrations against the Israeli occupation and the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Confrontations took place in the village of Mazraa al-Gharbia near Ramallah, during which Israeli troops used teargas and live ammunition to disperse protesters.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that four Palestinians hurt by live ammunition had been taken to the nearby Ramallah Medical Complex.

Dozens of others, witnesses said, were treated in the field after inhaling excessive teargas.

In Nablus, meanwhile, six Palestinian demonstrators were injured by rubber bullets, Murad Shtewi, coordinator of a local popular resistance committee, told Anadolu Agency.

The injured, he said, had since been taken to the Rafidia government hospital in Nablus.

Similar confrontations were also reported in the towns of Nilin, Bilin, Nabi Saleh and Budrus near Ramallah; in Hebron’s Bab al-Zawiya neighborhood; and near the northern entrance of Bethlehem.

The Palestinian territories have remained tense since last December, when U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The move drew widespread condemnation from across the region and sparked angry protests in the Palestinian territories -- and several clashes with Israeli troops -- that have left at least 25 Palestinians dead.

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