8 Palestinians Shot, Injured, Dozens Suffocate at Weekly Kufur Qaddoum March –

Eight Palestinian civilians were shot and injured, Friday, while dozens more suffocated on teargas when Israeli soldiers Palestinian assaulted protesters during the weekly procession in the northern occupied West Bank village of Kufur Qaddoum, east of Qalqilia.

Morad Eshteiwi, the media spokesman for the popular resistance, stated that Israeli troops invaded the village, occupied citizens’ rooftops and opened fire with a barrage of teargas canisters and sponge-tipped bullets at the civilians who are demanding the main street to be reopened.

Eshteiwi added that 8 civilians were shot with sponge-tipped bullets, including one young man who was struck in the face, while dozens of demonstrators suffocated on teargas. All injuries were treated at the scene by local medics.

Hundreds of local villagers gathered at the Omar bin Al-Khattab Mosque to perform the Friday afternoon prayer, and then proceeded to march towards the gate that closes the street, while repeating patriotic slogans among calls for popular resistance to become widespread.

Some of the youths burned tires in order to obscure the soldiers’ vision, while some youths hurled stones at the invading force.

Locals have demonstrated every Friday and Saturday for years to pressure the occupation authorities reopen the main road out of Kufur Qaddoum and to reject the expropriation of their land for illegal colonial activities.

Israeli occupation authorities closed the road in 2003 in order to exclusively serve the illegal Israeli settlers in the area, at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian population.