Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Report: What's Happening in Palestine during Ramadan?


Fri 15 Apr 2022 | 12:39 PM

Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday evening called for the provision of urgent international protection to the people of Palestine amid an alarming Israeli escalation in the West Bank.

Abbas made his remarks during a meeting with European Union Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, Sven Koopmans, at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

During the meeting, Abbas reviewed the recent political developments on the Palestine's arena, describing the ongoing Israeli attacks against Palestinians across the occupied territories as “unbearable”.

Israel has escalated tensions in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan following police crackdown on Palestine's worshipers in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, encroachments upon the mosque compound and the killing of seven Palestinians since Wednesday morning.

He pointed that Palestine's leadership was scheduled to convene on Sunday to take decisions in this regard as he stressed the need for the international community to provide protection to Palestinians and implement the United Nations resolutions.

The EU diplomat affirmed the EU’s commitment to achieving the two-state solution based on international law, continuing economic cooperation and reinforcing Palestine-EU partnership.

Al-Aqsa Attack

Dozens of Israeli police units broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early this morning, Friday, and attacked thousands of Muslim worshippers performing the dawn prayer on a Ramadan morning causing dozens of injuries, reported medics and witnesses.

Confrontations' Casuality

Three Palestinians Thursday evening sustained injuries and hundreds others suffocated in confrontations with Israeli forces across the West Bank, according to local sources and eyewitnesses.

They said that confrontations erupted with heavily-armed soldiers in Abwein village, north of Ramallah, as they stormed the main road leading to the nearby Sinjil village.

The soldiers opened gunfire to disperse protestors, hitting a boy by two live rounds in the hand and lower back and causing dozens to suffocate from tear gas.

Also in the central West Bank district of Ramallah, similar nighttime confrontations broke out at the northern entrance of al-Bireh.

Israeli troops cracked down on protestors, injuring a youth by live ammunition and causing scores to suffocate from tear gas.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces quelled confrontations that erupted following the funeral procession of Fawaz Hamayel at the entrance of Beita town, south of Nablus.

Hamayel, a 45-year-old father of three, was shot in the chest by military gunfire on Wednesday and succumbed to his injuries the following day. He is the ninth Palestinian killed in Beita since the villagers started to rally weekly to defend their land against the construction of the colonial settlement outpost of Givat Eviatar in May last year.

The soldiers violently dispersed the protestors, causing seven to sustain injuries due to falling from high places after being chased by the soldiers and 35 others to suffocate from tear gas, as confirmed by Director of the Palestinian Red Crescent's (PRC) Emergency Department in Nablus, Ahmad Jibril.

In the southern West Bank, the soldiers manning the checkpoint at the entrance of al-Shuhada Street in Hebron opened fire towards a rally, hitting a boy by rubber-coated steel bullets in the foot.

Palestinians have been rallying against escalatory Israeli measures and attacks since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, including police crackdown on Palestinian worshippers in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, encroachments upon the mosque compound and the killing of seven Palestinians since Wednesday morning.