Dozens of Palestinians suffocated and a foreign activist was shot and injured, as Israeli armed soldiers violently suppressed a peaceful rally that sets out weekly to condemn illegal Israeli settlements and to call for the re-opening of a road that Israel has banned Palestinians from using for 13 years now.

Media spokesperson in Qalqilia, Murad Qaddum, informed wAFA Israeli army stormed the town of Kafr Qaddum in the early morning hours, while firing heavy tear gas canisters and stun grenades at the town’s locals.

A foreign activist, who preferred to remain unknown, was shot in his right thigh with a rubber-coated steel bullet fired by a sniper who was reportedly hiding in one of the homes, after turning it into a military outpost.

The activist was transferred to hospital for medical treatment.

Forces further detained two cameramen and a volunteer at the Palestinian Red Crescent for several hours, before releasing them. The camera men were identified as Mahmoud Fawzi, and Kamel al-Qadoumi.

Kafr Qaddoum locals hold weekly protesters to demand the Israeli army to re-open the town’s main road that was completely closed more than 13 years ago, to grant settlers easy access to their illegal Kedumim Israeli colony, built on privately-owned Palestinian lands.

Source: Wafa