On Thursday night, Israeli soldiers shot one Palestinian with live fire and four with rubber-coated steel bullets and caused dozens to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation in the eastern area of Nablus city, in the occupied West Bank’s northern part.
Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Emergency Department at the Nablus office of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), said the soldiers shot a young man with a live round in the leg.
Jibril added that the soldiers shot three young men with rubber-coated steel bullets, and one who suffered shrapnel wounds caused at least 34 to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation.
The incidents occurred when many military vehicles, including three bulldozers, invaded Nablus through the Beit Furik roadblock and headed to Joseph’s Tomb to accompany buses filled with illegal colonizers into the historic site.
In related news, the Israeli army said an officer and three soldiers were injured when an explosive device detonated near them during the Nablus invasion and added that they were airlifted to a hospital.
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 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.
