A non-violent rally was suppressed yesterday by Israeli military forces in the village of Al-Nabi Saleh.
A non-violent rally was suppressed yesterday by Israeli military forces in the village of Al-Nabi Saleh.
According to local sources, dozens of protestors including five children were suffocated after inhaling poisonous gas, while three citizens were injured due to rubber bullets hit their bodies. Israeli army also detained a photojournalist and more than 12 peace activists.
Sources added that a number of journalists and correspondents were attacked by Israeli soldiers as they shut all entrances, imposed a curfew, and stormed several homes in the village.
The clashes erupted following the weekly rally lunched by Palestinian youths condemning national division and Israeli ongoing violations and detentions practiced against innocent people.
Protestors demanded the release of Bassem Al-Tamimi, head of the popular committee anti-wall, who was arrested on Thursday for security purposes.
PALESTINIANS ARRESTED
Israeli occupation forces detained yesterday two citizens at Al-Hamra checkpoint in Al-Aghwar area, northern West Bank.
The two Palestinians were detained as Israeli soldiers stopped their vehicles passing through the road between Tubas and Jericho.
Soldiers sent them to unknown destinations without reasons mentioned.
GAZA STRIP
Meanwhile, a group of activists have traveled from Egypt to the Gaza border with the aim of supplying cement to help Gazans rebuild their homes.
The group, which is made up of 14 Egyptians and an American, include engineers and lawyers who intend to assess the situation in the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.
They brought ten tons of cement to the border in an attempt to improve the infrastructure in Gaza.
“Obviously, these supplies are not enough, but it is a symbolic move. It shows that the Egyptian people are with the Palestinian cause and Gazan people. What has been happening to Gaza is wrong,” said one of the activists.
The move comes as the Egyptian authorities were hesitant to accept or deny the cement from going through, but the group stepped up the pressure by camping outside the border, and was adamant on staying for however long it takes.
“We see that there is no legal constraint for Egypt to keep Rafah as a personnel border crossing only. We feel that it could be opened for commercial goods. That is still up for debate,” said another activist.
Israel laid siege to Gaza in 2007, restricting access to food, water, medicine and other vital necessities.
Ever since the siege, humanitarian moves to provide aid and construction materials for the people in Gaza have been seriously beaten back by the Israeli military.
