Israeli soldiers injured, on Tuesday at night, many Palestinians in the eastern area of Nablus city, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Media sources said several army jeeps invaded the area to accompany dozens of colonizers into Joseph’s Tomb, in the eastern part of the city, leading to protests.
They added that the soldiers also invaded homes and occupied their rooftops, especially in the Amman Street area, to use them as monitoring towers and firing posts.
The soldiers fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, and gas bombs at the protesters, wounding several Palestinians with the rubber-coated steel bullets and causing many others to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Joseph the patriarch is revered by Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans alike, however, the Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized pilgrimages, despite the site being in ‘Area A’ where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has full control and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the site.
Ultra-orthodox and nationalist Jews regularly try to visit the shrine without approval, as many Jews believe the tomb to be the final resting place of the biblical figure in the Old Testament.
Palestinians believe that Joseph’s Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh Yousif Dweikat, a local religious figure.
On Tuesday evening, the soldiers abducted a former political prisoner, and detained six farmers from one family, in two separate incidents near Jenin, in northern West Bank.
Also on Tuesday evening, the soldiers shot a young Palestinian man, before abducting him near Hebron city, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. The army also prevented international diplomats from entering Shuhada Street in Hebron.
