Israeli forces attacked the weekly procession, on Saturday, injuring a Palestinian child and causing dozens more to suffocate in Kufur Qaddoum village, east of Qalqilia in northern West Bank, the Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported.
A 9-year-old child was shot in the arm with a rubber-coated steel round and dozens of young men suffered the effects of teargas inhalation, after the army opened fire at the demonstrators in an effort to suppress the peaceful protest.
The residents of the village and surrounding area have, for several years gathered every week on Fridays and Saturdays to show their opposition to the continued closure of the village’s main road, used exclusively by nearby illegal settlers.
On Friday, Palestinian citizens gathered for the weekly peaceful demonstration to express their objection to the illegal settlements, and demand the main road to the village be reopened.
Mourad Eshteiwi, the media spokesman for the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission stated that the army fired teargas canisters and rubber-coated steel rounds at the demonstrators, causing dozens to suffer inhalation injuries.
The Israeli army uses excessive and disproportionate force against peaceful and unarmed demonstrators, causing bodily harm and often death. Recently a soldier shot Zakaria Hamayel, a peaceful protestor, in the chest with a live round, killing him almost instantly.
