Hawzah News Agency-Four Palestinians were injured Monday evening during clashes with Israeli forces in the village of Qusra south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, local sources said.
Ghassan Doughlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern occupied West Bank, told that after Israeli forces stormed the town sparking clashes with locals, Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters, stun grenades, and live ammunition at demonstrators.
Douglas said a 35-year-old Palestinian sustained critical injuries after being shot with two live bullets, while another was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet, and both were evacuated to Rafidiya Government Hospital for treatment.
He did not specify the circumstances or conditions of the two others who were injured.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an they were looking into reports of the incident.
Israeli police and soldiers have come under heavy criticism over the past year by rights groups for excessive use of force against Palestinians -- against youth and children in particular -- who did not pose an immediate threat or who could have been detained through non-violent means.
A report recently released by the Palestinian NGO BADIL, the Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, warned of an intensification of the “systematic targeting” of Palestinian youth in the occupied Palestinian territory since the beginning of 2016.
“This targeting has taken the form of injuries and arbitrary killings by the use of live ammunition by the Israeli army in the context of arrest campaigns, military raids, and random wide searches which usually trigger clashes,” the statement said.
According to UN documentation, Israeli forces have injured a biweekly average of 74 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year, recording a total of 2,679 injuries over the same period.
Witnesses told that dozens of Palestinians suffered from severe tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces heavily fired tear gas canisters at demonstrators who were throwing rocks at Israeli troops .