Dozens of Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation Friday when Israeli troops invaded the village of Beit Ummar, near Hebron, and fired tear gas canisters.
The soldiers invaded the town with armored vehicles, jeeps, and numerous soldiers armed with automatic weapons. According to local sources, the soldiers pointed their weapons at children and shouted at village youth in Hebrew.
When some children remained on the street, Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters directly at them, causing dozens of children and adults to suffer from tear gas inhalation.
Most were treated on-site by medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, who were called to the scene by local residents, and arrived in the center of town with an ambulance equipped with oxygen and other lifesaving equipment.
Following the initial assault by Israeli forces, local sources reported that some teen boys and young men began to throw stones at the soldiers’ vehicles, shouting at them to “Get out of our town”.
Israeli forces have frequently invaded Beit Ummar, as Israeli settlements encroach closer onto village land, and the route of the Israeli Annexation Wall snakes through land confiscated from Palestinian villagers just outside the village.
The Israeli military has engaged in dozens of raids on Palestinian villages in recent weeks, with the invasions reaching a peak in the two week period prior to November 29th, in which 252 raids were carried out in just 14 days.
Beit Ummar has also been the site of frequent non-violent demonstrations against the Israeli Annexation Wall and settlements. These demonstrations are consistently met with violence from Israeli forces.
