Several Palestinian protestors were early today injured from Israeli military gunfire as Israeli settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus city in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian security sources.
Israeli occupation forces escorted a convoy of buses packed with hundreds of fanatic Jewish settlers into the site, located in the Palestinian-controlled area, sparking confrontations with Palestinian residents.
Soldiers opened fire on Palestinians protesting the raid and attempting to block settlers’ access to the site, injuring five, including a journalist, with rubber-coated steel bullets and causing others to suffocate from tear gas.
The casualties were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, whereas the suffocation cases were treated at the scene.
Settlers repeatedly break into Joseph’s Tomb, located in a densely Palestinian populated area in Nablus, provoking confrontation with local residents.
The site of Joseph’s Tomb is contentious. Palestinians believe the site to be the funerary monument to Sheikh Yousef Dweikat, a local religious figure, while Israeli settlers believe it to belong to the Biblical Patriarch Joseph.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency