Ma’an news (updated) 30/10/2013 12:06
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Ahmad Riyad Sabbah, 17, is treated for injuries from clashes in Tuqu,
near Bethlehem, on Oct. 29, 2013. (MaanImages)
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A young Palestinian man was shot and injured Tuesday evening after fierce clashes broke out between Israeli troops and young men in the village of Tuqu east of Bethlehem.
A Ma’an reporter said that 17-year-old Ahmad Riyad Sabbah was hit by a gunshot to the back. He was evacuated to the Bethlehem Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala. Medics say he is in a stable condition.
Israeli military vehicles stormed the village firing gunshots, rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas canisters after a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a settler bus traveling on the main road in the village. Witnesses said the front of the bus caught fire.
The driver continued to travel despite the fire until he reached the main entrance to the nearby Teqoa settlement. Israeli forces immediately shut down the main road before they stormed the Palestinian village.
Soldiers started a manhunt in olive fields near the road where the bus was attacked.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the Molotov attack and said forces were searching the area. The official said Israeli forces were using “riot-dispersal means” against the villagers.
She said the army was investigating claims that a Palestinian was shot.
Earlier, dozens of settlers demonstrated near the main crossroad leading to Teqoa protesting increasing attacks with rocks and fire bombs against their cars and buses as they travel near Palestinian villages east of Bethlehem.
They pelted Palestinian vehicles with stones after they blocked the road for more than two hours.
The settlements in the area were illegally built on private Palestinian land.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
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