Palestinian photojournalist shot in eye by Israeli army

A Palestinian photojournalist was on Saturday shot in the eye by the Israeli army during clashes that broke out near the West Bank city of Nablus.

Nedal Eshtayah, a photojournalist who works for China’s Xinhua press agency and the Palestinian Safa agency, was shot with a rubber bullet in his left eye and taken to a hospital in Nablus to receive medical treatment.

“Eshtayah’s eyelid was damaged, causing his left eye to swell,” a medical source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.

He said the photojournalist received medical treatment at the hospital and then went home.

Eshtayah, for his part, told Anadolu Agency that a rubber bullet penetrated the glass of his teargas mask and hit his eye.

“The [Israeli] army opened heavy fire on protesters and media personnel,” he added.

Israeli army troops clashed on Saturday with dozens of Palestinians in southern Nablus during a march to commemorate the 67th anniversary of “Nakba Day”.

Palestinians have been marking the anniversary with marches and rallies since Friday.

On May 15 of each year, Palestinians mark “Nakba Day” – when the state of Israel was founded – to reaffirm their right to return to the land from which their ancestors were forcibly displaced by Zionist groups in 1948.

The term “Nakba” – “catastrophe” in Arabic – is used by Palestinians to denote their mass expulsion and displacement from their ancestral homes and land in historical Palestine in 1948.

Jews commemorate the same occasion as Israel’s “Independence Day.”