Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli police during clashes at the entrance of the Jalama checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Jenin, yesterday.
JERUSALEM: Nearly 100 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces during demonstrations in the West Bank yesterday to demand the release of hunger-striking prisoners, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
An Israeli official said three hunger strikers — Tareq Qaadan, Jafar Ezzedine and Ayman Sharawrna — were admitted to hospitals for protective check-ups.
The Red Crescent’s Mohammed Ayyad said that 94 Palestinians were wounded, two of them by live bullets, as police responded to stone-throwing demonstrators with tear gas, stun grenades and gunfire. More than half of those hurt were outside the Ofer military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, where hundreds of Palestinians are being held, Ayyad said.
Thousands of Palestinians protested across the West Bank, including some 2,000 in northern city of Nablus, where clashes erupted between dozens of youths and Israeli soldiers, close to the Huwara checkpoint, according to witnesses and journalists.
Another 2,000 protesters demonstrated at the Jalameh military checkpoint, outside the northern West Bank city of Jenin, where they clashed with Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas and arrested 17 of them. Protesting worshippers at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem threw stones at police, who responded by firing stun grenades, police spokesman Said. AFP
