WEST BANK, (PIC)
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and extremist Jewish groups assaulted Palestinian citizens in different areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem on Saturday evening, injuring a number of them.
In southern al-Khalil, six citizens were injured on Saturday evening after Israeli forces assaulted them during a raid on a Palestinian polling center in the Khillet al-Maiyya village, east of Yatta.
Local official Rateb al-Jabour said that Israeli forces stormed the polling center and attacked citizens and staff during the vote-counting process. They also vandalized the center’s contents and threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters inside it.
Jabour added that several citizens suffered from their exposure to tear gas during the IOF raid on the center.
Eyewitnesses also reported that Israeli soldiers damaged a number of cars outside the center.
The Red Crescent, for its part, said that a young man and a young woman suffered bullet injuries after Israeli forces stormed their father’s home in the village.
Local sources said that Israeli soldiers opened fire inside the house and wreaked havoc on its contents.
Meanwhile, a horde of settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers on Saturday evening as they were working their swaths of land in the village of Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem.
Local sources said that settlers escorted by Israeli soldiers assaulted the farmers and fired dozens of tear gas canisters towards them in the Khirbet Samri area of the village, injuring a number of them.
The sources added that Israeli forces protected the settlers during their attack on the farmers and prevented other villagers from reaching the area.
Another group of settlers closed on the same day the Mikhmas rotary northeast of Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Governorate reported that settlers gathered at the rotary near the village of Mikhmas and blocked Palestinian vehicles from passing.
The village of Mikhmas and the nearby Bedouin communities are exposed to repeated settler attacks under the protection of Israeli forces, including assaults on residents, destruction and burning of homes, shelters, and vehicles, as well as vandalism of solar panels and security cameras.
In another incident, settlers assaulted farmers in the Balqa al-Awsaj area of northern Jericho.
Al-Baidar Human Rights Organization said in a press release that settlers stormed the Balqa al-Awsaj area and assaulted farmers while they were working their lands, and stole a vehicle belonging to a resident from the Bedouin community of Arab al-Rashayda.
In a fresh incident reported on Sunday morning, a Palestinian young man was reportedly injured in the thigh during his presence near the separation wall in al-Ram town, north of Jerusalem.
The Red Crescent said its paramedics transferred the wounded young man to the hospital for medical assistance.
