RAMALLAH

A Palestinian worker died Sunday after suffocating from tear gas when the Israeli army attacked workers near the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.

50-year-old Fouad Joudeh from the city of Nabulus along with other workers were trying to pass through a separation fence in the village of Faroun to reach their jobs in Jaffa.

Israeli authorities have banned workers from entering lands occupied since 1948 without an entry permit.

Fouad attempted to reach his workplace after more than 20 days of unemployment since Israel imposed a new lockdown as a protective measure to control the spread of COVID-19.

Doctors at Rafedia Hospital in Nablus said the autopsy confirmed that Fouad died as a result of inhaling large amounts of toxic tear gas and heart failure.

Hundreds of Palestinians in Nablus attended his funeral with feelings of anger and resentment against what they called a “new crime.”

“Our message to everyone is that we will not accept being killed and remain silent. The killer is this occupation. Any autopsy performed would not reveal Fouad’s pain when he was poisoned,” Palestinian public figure and former detainee Khader Adnan said during the funeral.

Fouad was the father for four children, the oldest of which is 10 years old.