Live fire being used by Israel against Palestinian protestors

Amid talks of a third Intifada (uprising) on social media, Israeli occupation forces have begun to use live fire against Palestinian protestors in the West Bank. Tension has been soaring across the Occupied Territories over recent weeks, with Jerusalem being the epicentre of riots between far-right Israeli settlers and armed Occupation soldiers on one side, and Palestinians resisting Occupation on the other.

Tensions escalated after Israeli forces shot dead 18-year-old Palestinian, Usama Adawi, in a refugee camp on Wednesday. For decades, refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza have housed millions of Palestinians who were expelled from their homes and villages during Israel’s takeover of the territory.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that Adawi was killed after he was shot by an Israeli soldier, adding that three other Palestinian demonstrators sustained gunshot injuries to their legs.

Read: PA condemns Israel’s ‘execution’ of Palestine youth in Jerusalem

The latest resistance to Israel’s colonial expansion has seen violent confrontations during which Israeli forces shot at Palestinians and used tear gas. The Israelis say that the latest round of violence was sparked by the killing of an Occupation soldier at a checkpoint in the neighbourhood of Shuafat on Saturday. Occupation forces have been carrying out raids on top of a four-day closure of a nearby sprawling refugee camp.

Read: The Shuafat shooting has destroyed Israel’s deterrence factor

Palestinians across Occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank launched a general strike in solidarity with the residents of Shuafat, and demonstrations overnight quickly turned violent. Unarmed Palestinian protestors were met with live fire, tear gas and stun grenades. Underlying the growing anger and despondency amongst Palestinian youths over the Israeli occupation, half of the twenty-three people that have been arrested are said to be minors.

“It has been a very hard few days, people have been suffering. We hope things will be more calm now, but we don’t know … They still haven’t found the shooter,” Dr Salim Anati, the Medical Director of one of the camp’s health centres is reported saying in the Guardian.

“We have patients with chemotherapy or dialysis appointments who were not able to travel; the children were not in school. Measures like this are collective punishment.”

This year is said to be the deadliest in the West Bank since 2015. More than 100 Palestinians, including many civilians, have been killed. Another 1,500 people have been arrested.