WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Zionist troops have injured over 70 Palestinian protesters after thousands of Zionist settlers marched under the regime’s protection near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian media reports said fierce clashes broke out at the entrance to the town of Burqa on Tuesday when thousands of settlers marched on to the abandoned outpost of Homesh near Nablus. Several members of the occupying regime’s parliament were also in attendance.
The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that at least 72 protesters sustained injuries as Zionist troops fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas at Palestinians protesting against the event at Burqa.
All entrances to Burqa were also shut by the regime’s army. Parts of the Nablus-Jenin highway were closed to Palestinian traffic as a result of the march.
Zionist troops attacked Palestinians as they were to perform dawn prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and erected metal barriers outside Lions’ Gate of the Old City.
The barriers prevent people from sitting and moving easily in the plaza, while heavily armed Zionist troops patrol the streets.
The troops evacuated women from the vicinity of the silver-domed Qibli prayer hall in preparation for the settlers’ incursion and blocked dozens of young Palestinians indoors.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian girl succumbed to wounds she sustained last week when she was shot by Zionist troops, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.
The statement said Hanan Mahmoud Khadour, a resident of the northern West Bank village of Faqqu’a, was shot in the abdomen during a military raid on April 9.
The 18-year-old was on her way to school. She was critically injured and taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on the city of Khan Yunis in southern besieged Gaza Strip after violent raids by the regime’s forces across the occupied West Bank during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency said the regime’s jets fired three missiles at the al-Qadisiyah district early Tuesday. The aircraft, however, had to leave after being confronted by anti-air defenses of the Hamas movement.
“Our air defenses confronted the occupation’s aircraft with surface-to-air missiles at exactly 01:35 this morning,” Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the resistance movement, said in a statement.
Pro-Palestine solidarity marches have been held around the world, with protesters demanding that their respective governments stop the ongoing Zionist aggression against Palestinians.
Hundreds of Palestinians and Arabs in addition to foreign activists participated in a mass demonstration in the American city of Chicago, condemning the regime’s attacks on Palestinians, especially in the occupied city of Al-Quds.
Moreover, a number of Kuwaitis and members of parliament, including Osama al-Shaheen and Hamad al-Mattar, demonstrated in support of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinian worshipers.