IOF injure several Palestinians, detain others in West Bank, Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen Net
17 Feb 2023 20:19

The Hamas movement organizes a solidarity vigil in Gaza in support of the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds.

A Palestinian protester waving a Palestinian flag near the illegal separation wall, Dec. 2019 (AFP)

Al Mayadeen correspondent on Friday reported that a Palestinian youth was injured by a rubber bullet fired by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during a demonstration near the illegal separation wall, east of Al-Bureij refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said the occupation soldiers, stationed inside their military vehicles, fired metal bullets and tear gas canisters near the separation wall, wounding a young man with a metal bullet in the foot.

It added that the occupation forces fired bullets and tear gas canisters at the Palestinians, east of Gaza, in the Malka area, as a result of which a young man suffocated as well.

The Palestinians had organized a vigil in different areas of the Gaza Strip near the illegal separation wall to condemn the Israeli occupation and its aggression against the Palestinian people.

Israeli occupation naval boats also opened heavy machine gunfire on Palestinian fishermen sailing offshore northern Gaza, WAFA reported.

IOF arrest 10 Palestinians in Al-Khalil

Earlier, Israeli occupation forces arrested 10 Palestinians during confrontations in downtown Al-Khalil, south of the West Bank, according to local sources

WAFA also reported that a Palestinian youth was injured in his right thigh bone by Israeli gunfire during confrontations in the nearby town of Beit Ummar.

A local Palestinian activist told the news agency that occupation soldiers assaulted dozens of protesters demonstrating against the Israeli repression campaign on prisoners.

Media activists said two Palestinians and an international solidarity activist sustained rubber bullets injuries and dozens suffocated from tear gas when Israeli forces cracked down on an anti-settlement rally in the town of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqiliya, in the northern occupied West Bank.

A medical source also said that a Palestinian man sustained bruises after illegal Israeli settlers attacked him close to Burin village, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

On Friday afternoon, Israeli occupation forces also cracked down with tear gas canisters on an anti-settlement rally in the town of Tuqu', south of Beit Lahm, detaining a participant and causing others to suffocate, according to a local official.

The mayor of Tuqu', Tayseer Abu-Mefreh, said the rally was organized as illegal Israeli settlers proceeded with the construction of a settler-only road for the construction of a new illegal settler outpost.

A group of illegal Israeli settlers also assaulted Nasser Mahmoud Sabatin, a Palestinian man, while present in his own land near the village of Husan, to the west of Beit Lahm in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Mohammad Sabatin, the mayor of the village, told WAFA that the settlers targeted the man's vehicle.

IOF detain eight Palestinians in West Bank

Between Thursday evening and predawn Friday, Israeli occupation forces detained eight Palestinians from several parts of the occupied West Bank, local and security sources reported.

The sources said occupation police stormed a house in the Silwan neighborhood in the eastern part of occupied Al-Quds and assaulted one of its residents and arrested him.

Occupation forces stormed another house in the town of Anata, northeast of Al-Quds, tampered with its belongings, and arrested one of its residents.

Watch: Israeli forces savagely detain a Palestinian man after raiding his home in occupied Jerusalem's Anata town, today. pic.twitter.com/PFZhbcPocW
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 17, 2023

Israeli occupation soldiers also detained three Palestinians from the Jenin refugee camp at Huwara checkpoint, south of Nablus.

Israeli occupation soldiers also set up a roadblock near the illegal settlement of "Homesh", detained a Palestinian, and seized his vehicle.

Hamas organizes solidarity vigil in support of West Bank, Al-Quds

After Friday prayers, the Hamas movement in the Zawayda area in the central Gaza Strip organized a solidarity vigil in support of occupied Al-Quds and the West Bank and in protest of the occupation's violations against them.

Maher Al-Houli, a Hamas official, said the movement and the Resistance renew the affirmation of their solidarity and stand with Palestinians in Al-Quds and the West Bank, adding that the Palestinian people are united behind the prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.

Al-Houli warned that harming Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons opens a gate of fire at the occupation.

The Hamas official said the message of Hamas and the Resistance to the extremist Israeli occupation government is that it will break the chains placed on the hands of the prisoners and will break the hands that violate their freedom.

He stressed that the Palestinian Resistance has several options it could resort to in order to liberate the prisoners and deter the occupation from its violations against the Palestinian people.

Al-Houli warned against any attempt to inflict harm on the prisoners, underlining that the Palestinian Resistance will not abandon its responsibilities toward its people.

Elsewhere, he called on all the Palestinian people to continue confronting the Israeli occupation on all fronts and at all military checkpoints.