clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israel raids Beit Ummar, sprays houses with sewage

April 29, 2017 at 2:10 pm

Israeli forces have again raided the village of Beit Ummar in the West Bank yesterday, with video footage seemingly showing Israeli forces using a water pump to spray sewage over the houses of Palestinians.

This comes after several Palestinians suffered from severe tear gas inhalation last Sunday after Israeli troops stormed the outskirts of the southern occupied West Bank village of Beit Ummar.

The footage shows what appears to be a modified military vehicle being used to spray sewage over houses belonging to Palestinians. Israeli soldiers can be seen standing on the rooftops of Palestinian homes, indicating that they stormed and temporarily took possession of these houses.

The raid came after hundreds of Palestinians began marching following Friday prayers in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners who have started a mass hunger strike to protest Israeli prison conditions.

Israeli forces then attacked the march, leading to clashes with local youths that caused at least nine of them to suffer wounds during the attack. Palestinians threw rocks and bottles at Israeli military vehicles in retaliation, and at least six Palestinian youths were shot with rubber coated bullets.

Last week, local activist Muhammad Ayyad Awwad told Palestinian Ma’an News that Israeli forces denied worshipers access to the Al-Sumud mosque in the Al-Thahir area, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Karmi Zur, during afternoon prayers last Sunday, in addition to placing stones in the middle of the road and blocking both pedestrian and vehicular access.

Awwad said that local youths then clashed with Israeli troops who fired live ammunition in the air, as well as tear gas and stun grenades. He added that Israeli soldiers fired shots at power lines when they withdrew from the area, causing electricity cuts.

Yesterday’s raid is certain to escalate already volatile tensions in the occupied West Bank and throughout Palestine, as Palestinians come out and march in solidarity with hunger strikers being held in Israeli prisons.