Israeli forces attacked, on Friday, demonstrators at the weekly non-violent march in Kufur Qaddoum village, east of Qalqilia in the northern occupied West Bank, injuring dozens, including a child, according to local sources.
Morad Eshteiwi, the coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall & Colonies in the region stated that Israeli forces shot 5 protestors, including a child, with rubber-coated steel rounds.
A fourteen-year-old child, identified as Moamen Murad Shteiwi, was shot in the abdomen with a rubber-coated steel round, he was transferred to the Darwish Nazzal Hospital in Qalqilia for medical intervention, the other 4 were treated on site.
Additionally, soldiers fired live rounds and tear gas canisters at the crowd, causing dozens to suffer the toxic effects of tear gas inhalation, all suffocation cases were treated at the scene by local medics.
Palestinian youths confronted the soldiers by using slingshots to throw stones and tear gas canisters back towards the fully armed attacking army.
Furthermore, this week’s rally coincided with the 57th anniversary of the establishment of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah).
Every week since 2003, when the occupation authorities closed the main road of Kufur Qaddoum town, Palestinian citizens from Kufur Qaddoum and surrounding villages have rallied, demanding the authorities reopen the road.
Israeli colonists from the nearby illegal Kedumin settlement, established on expropriated Palestinian lands, have full access to the street, while Palestinians are forced to take longer routes to Nablus city, the nearest major commercial center, prolonging travel time, causing undue hardship.
~ Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission, WAFA
~ Photo: Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission
