Dozens of journalists, Sunday, suffered from suffocation after inhaling tear gas fired at them by Israeli forces during a solidarity sit-in, held in support of injured photojournalist Moath Amarneh, to the north of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Local witnesses told WAFA that Israeli soldiers fired a barrage of tear gas bombs towards journalists who had organized a sit-in at the northern entrance of Bethlehem city, in solidarity with Amarneh, who lost his left eye after being seriously injured by a metallic bullet fired by an Israeli soldier, in the Surif town, west of Hebron in southern West Bank, where he was covering a protest against land confiscation.
Two journalists were detained during the sit-in and one journalist, identified as Monjed Jado, was shot with a gas bomb to his head.
One of the detained journalists, identified as Hamad Taqatqa, was moved to Etzion military base and security center, while the second reporter, Ahmad Tannoud, was released a few hours after his abduction.
The head of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, Nasser Abu Bakr, said the journalists will not be silenced, and will not be intimidated by Israel’s ongoing violations and deliberate targeting of the press in Palestine.
He added that Israeli soldiers carried out at least 600 violations against the Palestinian journalists and media outlets, and injured dozens of reporters, including 60 who suffered serious wounds, since the beginning of this year.
