Palestinian man killed in the Israeli city of Lod amid protests
A Palestinian man was killed in the city of Lod after he was shot dead late on Monday evening as protests continued inside Israel in solidarity with Al-Aqsa and Gaza against Israeli attacks.
In footage widely shared online, the man was seen laying on the ground with many people crowded around him and calling for medical attention.
The Palestinian news website Arab48 cited local sources as saying the protester was shot dead by an Israeli settler, while the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the cause of death was not yet confirmed. Israeli police confirmed the fatality without further explanation.
Arab 48 website identified the victim as Moussa Hassona. It cited a member of the Popular Committee in Lod, Tayseer Shaban, as saying that Israeli settlers fired indiscriminately on crowds of Palestinian demonstrators. He said the protesters "erupted peacefully in support of Al-Aqsa, and were surprised by the bullets of the occupation and its settlers.
Arabs in Israel held massive demonstrations in support of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday, while Israeli police arrested dozens of protesters, and wounded many others as they tried to disperse the protests with rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters.
The mass protests erupted in Nazareth, Shfaram, Umm al-Fahm, Ain Mahal, Tamra, Baqa al-Gharbia, Jaffa, Lod, Ramla and Jaljuliya to protest the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the attack on worshipers and protesters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Bab al-Amud Square.
At least 46 Palestinians have so far been arrested in the protests, according to Israeli police.
Palestinians have been protesting over the past few days against the forced eviction of a number of Palestinian families in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
On 2 May, Israel's Supreme Court ordered that 40 residents of Sheikh Jarrah, including 10 children, be removed from their homes, which would subsequently be given to Israeli settlers. The order sparked massive protests in East Jerusalem, which have spread across cities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.