Israeli settlers escalate attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem

Hundreds of Israeli settlers marched into the Balata neighbourhood in Nablus city early on Thursday and performed Talmudic rituals in the Tomb of Youssef. Clashes erupted with local Palestinian residents, resulting in tens of casualties.

Witnesses in the area said at least ten buses carrying settlers entered neighbourhood, accompanied by a large number of Israeli soldiers.

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The Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters and plastic bullets at the Palestinians. According to medical sources, tens of the Palestinians were taken to hospitals for shock and gas inhalation.

Meanwhile, another group of Israeli settlers raided the Qasra neighbourhood south of Nablus and burned six Palestinian cars late on Wednesday night.

According to the head of settlement dossier in northern West Bank, Ghassan Daglas, the settlers left Yesh Kodish settlement, which is adjacent to Qasra, and blazed the Palestinian cars in the centre of the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, in Jenin, occupation forces stormed the city and detained 24 year-old Samed Abul Hajaa, who they claimed had opened fire on the Israeli Salim checkpoint during the offensive on Gaza last November.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation forces abducted a Palestinian minor, Nabil al-Farroukh, 14, during clashes which erupted on Wednesday night in Al-Issawiya neighbourhood in solidarity with the hunger strikers in the Israeli jails.