Israeli forces suppress solidarity protests in West Bank

While thousands of Palestinians are demonstrating in Gaza Strip as part of the "Great March of Return", Palestinians have also taken to the streets in the occupied West Bank in solidarity with the events taking place in the besieged coastal enclave.

According to Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, Israeli forces fired smoke bombs and stun grenades at demonstrators in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, causing several to suffer from suffocation.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces detained three Palestinians, at least one of them a minor, during a protest in the city of Bethlehem. Israeli forces were firing tear gas intermittently in northern Bethlehem throughout the afternoon, according to an MEE correspondent there.

Wafa also reported that demonstrations were taking place in the Nablus-area villages of Beita and Kafr Qaddum, stating that at least one Palestinian had been injured by a rubber-coated steel bullet.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told MEE that protests also took places in the city of al-Bireh in the central West Bank, as well as in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the northern West Bank.

The PRCS spokesperson said eight people had been injured in total in both areas, either by rubber-coated steel bullets or due to excessive tear gas inhalation, without specifying which injuries had taken place where.

An Israeli army spokesperson told MEE several "riots" took place across the West Bank, but said they were not aware of any injuries, adding that "nothing (was) out of the ordinary".