Dozens of Palestinians were wounded on Thursday in clashes that broke out with
the IDF during a prolonged protest in support of the Palestinian hunger strikers
that took place next to Ofer Prison, located outside
Ramallah.
Palestinians threw stones at the security forces, and lightly
wounded three Israeli journalists – Nadar Bagdasa and Roy Sharon of Channel 10
and Yoram Cohen of Channel 1 – during the protest, which lasted from 11 a.m.
until the evening.
During its evening news, Channel 1 showed a clip of
Cohen with a bloody face after he was hit in the head.
Videos were posted
online showing Bagdasa clutching his chest, after he was hit and evacuated in an
ambulance.
Sharon sent out tweets stating that Cohen and Bagdasa were
injured, before he tweeted that he, too, had been hit by a stone in the
back.
According to Abir Kopty, a spokeswoman for the Popular Struggle
Coordination Committee, dozens of Palestinians were injured by tear gas, rubber
bullets and rubber-coated bullets. A temporary clinic was set up at the
site.
She herself was hit in the head by a tear gas canister, treated in
the hospital and then released. While in the hospital, she said, she counted 10
others who were there with injuries from the demonstration, including one
protester who was hit by live fire.
The IDF denied that soldiers used
live ammunition at Ofer.
The protest started with a prayer, and quickly
turned violent, with Palestinians throwing stones and rolling burning tires,
while soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
At times they also used
a “skunk truck,” which sprayed foul-smelling water.
Another protest
outside Ofer Prison was planned for Friday, as was one in Hebron.
The
Hebron rally is partially in solidarity with the hunger strikers and partially a
call for Israel to re-open the city’s Shuhada Street to Palestinian traffic.