Israel Opens Fire On Palestinian Protesters

IOF Assassinate Palestinian Activist, Wound 16 Teenagers in Nablus

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opened fire on Saturday at hundreds of Palestinian protesters in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, injuring at least sixteen, mostly teenagers, only a day after a new extra-judicial assassination of a Palestinian activist in the city.

Two of the wounded were hit in the legs by live bullets and one was wounded in the hand by shrapnel, hospital officials said.

The IOF said soldiers fired rubber bullets after dozens of Palestinians as young as 11 years old began throwing stones at them.

Some 200 teenagers remained in the streets hurling stones at soldiers and tanks despite a curfew, witnesses said.

Earlier on Friday, IOF troops shot and killed a Palestinian activist in Nablus and wounded two others, in a new extra-judicial assassination.

Eyewitnesses said that IOF soldiers stormed Rafidia hospital in the city, opening fire at the people there, killing Khaled al Namroty. IOF kidnapped one of the wounded and led him into an unknown place.

IOF also surrounded the hospital and denied patients’ access to it. A tight curfew is still imposed on Nablus.

Separately, Israeli occupation forces stormed Friday a mosque and a church in Nablus city, leaving behind grave damages, witnesses said.

IOF also demolished the house of Samer al Norry, which is home to 11 family members.

Earlier, IOF troops detained Friday a Palestinian citizen in Deir Estia town.

Palestinian security sources said IOF stormed the town, broke into the house of Moa’iad Aqel, 30, and detained him.

In the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, IOF detained Friday three young men after raiding al-Khader town.

Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported that massive Israeli troops stormed the town and broke into the residents’ houses.

In Jenin, in the northern West Bank, IOF destroyed the house of Abdl Samea al Killani, witnesses said.

IOF leveled the two-storey house, leaving the ten family’s members without shelter, residents of the town said.

In Tulkarim, IOF destroyed early Friday the house of detainee Zaid Bsaisy, by planting explosives and remotely detonating them in Ramin town near the city.

Meanwhile, in Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces blocked Salah Al Din Street, denying civilians’ access from into it.

The street is a vital road connecting the northern and southern Gaza Strip towns together and by sealing it Israel actually has divided the area into two separate cantons.

The latest Israeli incursions came as Israel refuses Palestinian proposals for a new cease-fire to halt to attacks by Palestinian groups.

After a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday, Information Minister Nabil Amre said any new cease-fire would have to include Palestinian groups and Israel.

“We can talk about a cease-fire, another truce, but we must have guarantees from Israel that it will cooperate. ... We are searching for a way to do that,” he said.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza said Saturday the group did not object to the idea of renewed truce talks but said an agreement would have no chance as long as Israel is hunting anti occupation activists.

“We don't have any conditions for any new dialogue,” said Nafez Azzam, the Islamic Jihad official. But, he added, “I doubt that Israel is going to respect any new commitment.”

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