8 Palestinians hurt in W. Bank clashes with Israel army

At least eight Palestinians were injured Monday when Israeli troops fired on a group of stone-throwing Palestinian youth in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
In a statement, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its crews had taken eight of the injured to Nablus’s Rafidya government hospital after they had been shot by Israeli army troops near Yusuf’s Tomb, a local holy site and the scene of frequent clashes.
According to the PRCS, two paramedics were among those injured.
Monday morning saw violent confrontations erupt near the tomb between dozens of young Palestinians and Israeli troops deployed in the area to protect hundreds of Jewish settlers who had converged on the site earlier.
According to Palestinian historical documents, the tomb is less than 200 years old and houses the remains of a local Muslim personage.
Jewish settlers, for their part, claim the Prophet Joseph is interred at the site.
In a related development, the Israeli army rounded up 10 Palestinians from their homes in overnight raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to an army statement released Monday.
The individuals were detained for “suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities”, the statement claimed, without elaborating on the nature of said “activities”.
The detained Palestinians have since been remanded into custody for further investigation, according to the same statement.
The Israeli army frequently conducts sweeping arrest campaigns across the occupied territories on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.
According to Palestinian figures, some 6,500 Palestinians are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, including scores of women, roughly 350 minors, and at least six lawmakers.
In a separate statement, the army announced that it had inspected a Palestinian home in the southern West Bank town of Yatta in advance of its planned demolition.
The home belongs to a Palestinian teenager who was injured and arrested by Israeli forces on Sunday after allegedly stabbing a Jewish settler to death in the nearby Gush Etzion settlement.
A Jewish-only settlement, Gush Etzion was built on occupied Palestinian land near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.