BETHLEHEM (Dispatches) – A Palestinian boy killed by Zionist troops was laid to rest on Saturday near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Zaid Mohammed Ghonaim, 15, was fatally shot in his neck and back in the town of al-Khader on Friday evening, the Palestinian health ministry said, making him the 15th teenager to be killed by Zionis fire this year.
Confrontations had erupted between al-Khader residents and Zionist troops who stormed the town, south of Bethlehem, to “secure an intersection near the illegal settlement of Efrat”, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Eyewitnesses said Ghonaim was hiding in a parking garage when Zionist troops shot him, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Ghonaim’s friends and family buried him in the Martyrs Cemetery in his hometown of al-Khader on Saturday morning, accompanied by hundreds of people who joined the funeral procession.
The governor of Bethlehem Kamel Hameed said his killing was “another crime committed against childhood”.
“He was unarmed and did not pose a threat to them,” Hameed said, according to Wafa.
Meanwhile, some 90 Palestinian protesters sustained injuries in fierce clashes with Zionist troops in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, amid escalating violence over the regime’s provocations ahead of the so-called march of the flags.
Palestine’s Ma’an news agency cited the Palestinian Red Crescent as saying on Friday that its staffers had dealt with 88 injuries from the occupation forces’ fire in Nablus and nearby towns and villages.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian resistance groups have unanimously warned the Zionist regime against the provocative flag march in occupied Al-Quds, saying they will retaliate if the regime goes ahead with the incendiary march.
The annual flag march by extremist Zionist settlers through Al-Quds’ Old City Sunday is regarded by Palestinians as a blatant provocation and a violation of their rights.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said they will retaliate if the occupying regime doesn’t change the planned route of the parade and tries to approach Al-Aqsa mosque.
“They [Zionist settlers] can avoid a war and escalation if they stop this mad [march],” Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters in Gaza.
People’s Youth Movement in Al-Quds said it wants Sunday to be remembered as Palestinian Flag Day by raising the national flag on every house, square, and street.
The head of the Al-Quds Committee against Judaization, Nasser al-Hadmi, stated that the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and the threats of the resistance carry a clear and strong message that the confrontation with the occupying regime will be strong.