An Israeli military jeep runs over a Palestinian protester north of the city of al-Bireh, near Ramallah, in the central occupied West Bank, as Palestinians step up their protests against Tel Aviv’s violence and provocations.
The Palestinian news agency Ma’an said on Friday that a Palestinian youth was run over by an Israeli military jeep before the injured young man was nabbed by the Israeli forces.
Footage of the incident aired by the al-Aqsa TV showed the military vehicle speeding up at a group of youths who were protesting weeks of Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces apparently blocked and assaulted medics who were attempting to reach the hit person, the video showed.
A number of other people, including some journalists who were filming the incident, were assaulted and arrested, Ma’an said. Israeli forces also fired tear gas and live bullets, prompting more clashes in the demonstration which started after Friday prayers in Bireh.
At least four medical personnel and one journalist were injured as a result of inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces and were transferred to hospital, according to the Palestinian news agency Watan.
More Palestinian blood spilled
The scuffle came amid continued unrest in the occupied Palestinian territories where Israeli forces have been engaged in acts of aggression against Palestinians since early October.
Palestinians are angry at Israeli settler violence and a plan by Tel Aviv to change the status quo of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hours before the clashes erupted near Ramallah, a 23-year-old Palestinian was shot by Israeli forces in al-Quds (Jerusalem) with Israelis claiming that the young man had stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli soldier. That was the first direct clash between Palestinians and Israelis in the city in two weeks.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus after accusing them of carrying out stabbing assaults. The killing brought to 71 the total number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of October. Some 7,200 others have been injured either in direct confrontation with the Israelis or during protests.
Meanwhile, Israeli media said numerous Palestinians have been wounded in clashes with Israeli forces along the border fence which separates the Gaza strip from the Israeli-occupied territories. The Jerusalem Post said demonstrations have been reported in various areas along the border.
Exposing Israel’s war crimes
Reports said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to meet Friday with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to brief authorities in the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal on the surging Israeli violence against Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority joined the ICC in January despite strong criticism by Israel and the United States as the joining could facilitate the trial of Israeli leaders for their crimes against the Palestinians. Palestine has yet to gain a full membership at the United Nations and be recognized as a sovereign state.
An official with the Palestinian mission in The Hague said Abbas, who is in the Netherlands as part of a European tour, would meet Fatou Bensouda “in the context of the grave Israeli escalation in occupied Palestine.”
The Palestinian Authority has already submitted a request by the ICC urging the court to investigate Israel’s war crimes during the 2014 war on the Gaza Strip, which left more than 2,200 Palestinians killed.
