BETHLEHEM (Ma’an): Israeli forces reportedly shot and injured two young Palestinians in the village of Qabatiya in the northern occupied West Bank district of Jenin on Sunday, after an Israeli army raid into the town provoked clashes between locals and Israeli soldiers.
State-run Palestinians news agency Wafa reported that 18-year-old Ahmad Hamamdeh and 21-year-old Amjad Kemail were shot by Israeli forces, and that Kemail, despite his injuries, was then detained and taken into custody.
The clashes occurred after Israeli forces reportedly raided and searched a number of commercial shops in Qabatiya, breaking down their front doors, according to Wafa.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an they were looking into reports.
Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are a daily occurrence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Due to the typically aggressive nature of the raids, clashes often erupt between local Palestinian youth who throw stones and are met in response with live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas, often resulting in serious, sometimes fatal injuries.
Saturday evening, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was critically injured after being shot in the head with a live bullet during clashes in al-Jalazun refugee camp, and last week, a 20-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces during clashes that erupted in the neighborhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem, amid ongoing violent police raids in the Jerusalem area.
He was the 233rd Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since a wave of unrest swept across the Palestinian territory and Israel a year ago.
While the violence has mostly been characterized by small-scale attacks with knives or similar weapons by Palestinians on Israeli targets, at least 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during clashes, Israeli forces raids since Oct. 1, 2015.
[Archive Photo: Israeli soldier in the West Bank town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, on October 9, 2016. Photographer: Photographer: Muhabiri Shadi Hatem/AA]
