RAMALLAH
Twenty-two Palestinians were wounded, while others suffered breathing problems early on Thursday in clashes with the Israeli army in different parts of the occupied West Bank, eyewitnesses and medical sources said.
Two Palestinians were wounded with live ammunition in clashes with the Israeli army near Qalandia checkpoint, which separates Ramallah from East Jerusalem at the center of the occupied West Bank, a source from the Palestinian Red Crescent told Anadolu Agency.
He said a third Palestinian was wounded with live ammunition near the northern Ramallah Jalazone refugee camp.
Israeli soldiers used live ammunition and teargas to disperse Palestinians protesting near Qalandia checkpoint early on Thursday. The Palestinians pelted the Israeli soldiers with stones, fireworks and Molotov cocktails, leading to the burning of a military tower in the area.
Several Palestinians suffered breathing problems when clashes erupted between them and Israeli soldiers at the entrance to Al-Ram village in East Jerusalem.
The protesters were given treatment on the spot, eyewitnesses said.
Four more Palestinians were wounded with live ammunition in clashes with Israeli soldiers in Hebron, while 12 other Palestinians were wounded with rubber bullets.
Three other Palestinians were wounded with rubber bullets as well in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, eyewitnesses added.
The Palestinian territories have been boiling with anger for nine days now since Israel started a military offensive against the Gaza Strip, an offensive that has claimed the lives of 225 Palestinians so far, including children, women and elderly people.
Gaza-based resistance movements have reacted to the Israeli airstrikes and tank and navy shelling with a barrage of rockets, some of which have landed in the heart of the Israeli capital Tel Aviv and other northern cities, which were once considered immune from Palestinian rocket attacks.
Egypt on Monday proposed a ceasefire initiative, but the initiative has been received coldly in Gaza so far.
By Qais Abu Samra
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
