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Israeli forces injure 38 Palestinians with bullets, tear gas in Nablus raid

May 18, 2023 at 8:20 pm

Palestinians react after Israeli forces raid the city of Nablus, West Bank on May 14, 2023 [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

A raid by Israeli forces into the West Bank city of Nablus injured 38 Palestinians today, as the occupation military shot live fire and tear gas at crowds during its latest operation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

According to eyewitnesses cited by media reports, a large number of Israeli soldiers raided several districts of Nablus early this morning, breaking into and searching Palestinian homes.

Protests then broke out between dozens of Palestinian youths and the Israeli troops, with the occupation forces firing bullets and tear gas as the Palestinians threw stones and glass bottles and closed off roads to prevent Israeli armoured vehicles from entering the city. There were also reportedly confrontations between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians.

READ: Israel raids West Bank city to tear down poster of Palestinian martyr

In a statement by the Palestinian Red Crescent, it reported that its teams “dealt with 38 injuries amid confrontations between Palestinians and the Israeli army in Nablus”. Among those wounded was one Palestinian who sustained critical injuries from a gunshot wound in the back and seven others who were shot by rubber bullets, with 80 people reportedly also suffering from respiratory distress from the inhalation of tear gas.

Palestinian security sources cited by media outlets said that, aside from the raid and searching of houses, Israeli forces shut down primary routes within the city in an effort to protect a group of Israeli settlers traveling to the site of Joseph’s Tomb in the area surrounding Nablus.

The incident came only days after the Palestinian Health Ministry revealed in a press release on Monday that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2023 has, so far, reached 151.

READ: Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank raid, Palestinian official says