By Mohammed Ghefari

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA): A Palestinian man died Friday of injuries sustained by Israeli forces while he was participating in an anti-settlement rally in the northern occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the man was shot in the head by Israeli live bullets in Beita village in southern Nablus.

Local sources identified the victim as Jamil Abu Ayyash, 31, who was transferred to a hospital but was later pronounced dead.

The director of the Palestinian Red Crescent society Ahmed Jebril told Anadolu Agency that medical teams had to deal with four injuries from Israeli rubber-coated bullets, 52 suffocations from Israeli teargas canisters and 11 injuries as people fell during clashes with the Israeli forces.

In the village of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya, the coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committees in the village, Murad Eshteiwi, told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli army fired live bullets, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters after Friday prayers to disperse an anti-settlement rally.

Six Palestinians were injured by rubber-coated bullets and dozens suffered inhalation of teargas, he added.

Palestinians hold weekly demonstrations against illegal Jewish settlements in different parts of the West Bank, especially in the villages of Beita, Beit Dajan and Kafr Qaddoum.

Israeli and Palestinian officials estimate that about 650,000 settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the West Bank, including in occupied Jerusalem.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in occupied territories are considered illegal.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara

[Photo: Paramedics help a protesters affected by tear gas thrown by Israeli forces during a protest against building Jewish settlements in Beita village of Nablus, West Bank, on December 10, 2021. Photographer: Nedal Eshtayah/AA}