Israeli forces shoot, injure 19 Palestinian protesters in West Bank

Nearly two dozen Palestinians have sustained gunshot wounds when Israeli military forces opened fire at a group of demonstrators participating in a protest rally against the protracted and extremely violent attacks being carried by the extremist settlers across the occupied West Bank.

Dozens of protesters converged in an open field near al-Mughayyir village, located 27 kilometers northeast of Ramallah, following Friday prayers to express their resentment over repeated attacks by settlers.

Israeli troops then shot live and rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse the non-violent protesters.

At least 15 Palestinians were struck by live bullets, while another four were injured by rubber rounds.

On January 26, a Palestinian man was shot dead and dozens others were wounded during a confrontation with Israeli soldiers and settlers in al-Mughayyir.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the 38-year-old, identified as Hamdi Na’san, was shot in the back and succumbed to his wounds shortly after at a hospital in the central West Bank city of Ramallah. He is survived by his wife and four children.

At least 30 others were also wounded during confrontations, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Amin Abu Alya, head of the Mugheir village council, said settlers opened fire before the Israeli military moved in.

“At the beginning, it was settlers shooting, then the army came and fired tear gas,” he said.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank in 1967. This is while much of the international community considers the settler units illegal and subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied land.