Nablus – At least 105 Palestinian protesters were injuried by Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday in Beita village in Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 19 Palestinians were injuried by rubber-coated metal bullets shot by Israeli forces in Beita, including a journalist who was covering the forces attacks.
72 others suffocated with teargas fired at them by the occupation forces.
14 others sustained injuries due to falling from high places after being chased and assaulted by the forces.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it provided treatment to the injuries, as three of them were rushed to hospitals for urgent treatment.
The protesters were demonstrating against the forces killing of 41-year-old Palestinian man Shadi Al-Shurafa, who is a municipal water technician, yesterday as he was shot by the Israeli forces near the entrance of Beita when he went to open the main supplying water to the village.
The body of Al-Shrafa is still withheld by the occupation authorities, as local sources said.
Several Palestinian-owned vehicles also sustained partial damage last night.
Beita village becomes a site of weekly protests against the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion, which are often suppressed by Israeli forces.
The occupation authorities evacuated dozens of Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Evyatar in Beita, after a deal was reached between a settler leader and the occupation government of new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Yossi Dagan, head of settler organisation the Shomron Regional Council, struck a deal with Israel’s defence minister, Benny Gantz, and interior minister Ayelet Shaked, that will turn Evyatar into a religious school and a military base for the Israeli forces.
‘Israel’ will keep about 50 caravan houses settlers installed in May on Palestinian lands belonging to the residents of the occupied West Bank village of Beita, while settlers would “return” to the land when Israeli occupation authorities designate it as “state-owned.”
In early May, a group of Israeli settlers set up caravans on Jabal Sabih, and with the help of Israeli occupation forces have since prevented any Palestinian access to the area.
Within days, settlers installed mobile houses, built roads and raised an Israeli flag over the settlement.
Since then, Beita has witnessed several protests against the new settler outpost on Jabal Sabih, which lies on the southern outskirts of the village and comprises an estimated 30 percent of Beita’s entire land area.
The livelihoods of at least 17 Palestinian families – more than 100 people – are threatened as they depend on harvesting their olives on land they have owned for generations.
