Israeli occupation forces today attacked Palestinians peacefully protesting Israeli settlement plans in the south Hebron hills causing several suffocation cases, according to local activist Rateb Jabour.
He told WAFA that soldiers fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs at Palestinians taking part in the protest held at al-Tuwaneh community, south of the city of Hebron in the south of the West Bank.
The soldiers assaulted the head of Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Walid Assaf, as well as journalists covering the event and held them for one hour along with international solidarity activists.
The soldiers prevented the participants in the protest from reaching an area east of al-Tuwaneh where Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements of Maon and Havat Maon are trying to take over a water well and agricultural land owned by the local Palestinian residents.
The settlers regularly harass and attack the local residents, burn their crops, cut their trees and prevent them from accessing their lands in order to eventually expand their settlements.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency