Israel holds Palestinian teachers at Hebron checkpoint, fires tear gas at school

A group of Palestinian school teachers were briefly detained this morning by Israeli occupation forces while on their way to school in the Old City of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, according to official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency.

Wafa reported that the teachers, all women, were heading to the Qurtoba school in the Old City when Israeli soldiers stationed at a military checkpoint on Al-Shuhada Street prevented them from passing through.

It was only after intervention from the Red Cross and the Palestinian liaison that the soldiers allowed the teachers to continue on with their journeys. The reason for their brief detention remains unclear.

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Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at schools in the southern area of Hebron city, causing several students to suffer from gas inhalation, suffocation and lose consciousness.

Some 6,500 Palestinians and 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers live in the Old City of Hebron, according to a 2016 report by legal rights NGO BADIL.

Palestinian residents of the Old City face a large Israeli military presence on a daily basis, with at least 32 permanent and partial checkpoints set up at the entrances of many streets. With metal detectors and road blocks placed at the entrance to the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Additionally, Palestinians are not allowed to drive on Al-Shuhada Street, have had their homes and shops on the street welded shut and are not permitted to walk on certain roads in the Old City.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers move around freely.

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