More than 100 Palestinian protesters have been wounded by Israeli tear gas and live rounds as the clashes between protesters and Israeli forces continue for the eighth week.
109 Palestinian protesters injured by Israeli live rounds, tear gas
26 May 2018 - 13:31
More than 100 Palestinian protesters have been wounded by Israeli tear gas and live rounds as the clashes between protesters and Israeli forces continue for the eighth week.
According to figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry, on Friday, at least 109 demonstrators were injured, about 10 of whom by Israeli live fire.
The occupied territories have been the scene of new tensions ever since US President Donald Trump on December 6, 2017 declared Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and promised that the US would move its diplomatic mission to the city.
The highly provocative move caused outrage among Palestinians, who want the occupied West Bank as part of their future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. Israel, on the other hand, lays claim to the whole city as its “capital.”
In the hours leading up to the inauguration of the embassy in al-Quds on May 14, Israeli troops engaged in clashes with Palestinian protesters, killing over 60 unarmed demonstrators and wounding more than 2,700 others, either through direct shooting or firing tear gas canisters. The death toll is so far the highest in a single day since a series of Palestinian protests demanding the right to return to ancestral homes began on March 30.
The embassy inauguration also coincided with the climax of a six-week demonstration on the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), May 15, when Israel was created and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homeland by Israelis in 1948.
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