Israeli forces injured, on Saturday evening, eight Palestinian civilians who fended off an attempted settler attack in Burqa village, north of Nablus city, in the northern occupied West Bank, according to a local official.
Ghassan Daghlas, the official in charge of the file on Israeli colonial operations, told the Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) that illegal colonists stormed the western entrance of Burqa village, under the full protection of the occupation army, which sparked confrontations between the soldiers and village residents.
Soldiers responded by opening fire with live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters at the Palestinian civilians, instead of stopping the invading settlers.
In a press statement, Ahmed Jibril, the director of the Red Crescent Emergency Center in Nablus, stated that 8 civilians were shot and injured by rubber-coated steel rounds, while 55 others suffered the toxic effects of tear gas inhalation, Quds Press reported.
Jibril added that three civilian homes required evacuation by medical crews as a result of tear gas fired by the army.
Local activist, Sami Abu Omar told Quds Press that calls from the village mosques warning of the attempted settler attack, to which many youths and other residents responded by obstructing the colonist invasion.
In related news, Palestinians confronted another attempted settler invasion in the Arab Al-Ara’ara community, in the Jordan Valley, south of Jericho, in the northeastern West Bank, witnesses stated.
No injuries were reported.
~ WAFA, Quds Press
