Two Palestinians injured in fourth day of Silwan protests

Two Palestinians injured in fourth day of Silwan protests

 The fourth day of clashes on Saturday in the Silwan district of Jerusalem was heated, as the area saw an unusually heavy presence of Israeli soldiers, who turned the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood into a military zone, local residents said.

Ali al-Ruwaidi, 19, sustained injuries to his eye after Israeli soldiers violently beat and pepper sprayed him directly in the eyes after raiding his home, the sources said, adding that he was later hospitalized. Another youth was hit in the foot with a rubber bullet.

Abu Nasir Abu Sanad of the Bustan neighborhood said his wife Haneyya Awda Abu Sanad, 65, is in intensive care after she suffered a stroke when she was hit last Wednesday with a stun grenade while on the balcony of her home after she learned about the death of her daughter’s husband.

Abu Sanad said she lost consciousness after Israeli soldiers blocked ambulances from delivering treatment for her at the appropriate time.

Violent clashes reportedly broke out Saturday night between Palestinians and Israeli troops, who fired a barrage of gas bombs on homes.

A cautious calm returned to Jerusalem at midnight Saturday after Israeli forces withdrew from those districts after fierce clashes with Palestinians, Mohammed Sadiq, director of the Jerusalem Information Center told the PIC Sunday morning.

He said there is still no accurate count of the number of casualties in the onslaught by Israeli forces on Silwan, Isawiya, and other districts of Jerusalem, but preliminary information suggests 30 cases of suffocation from tear gas.

A Palestinian man was seriously injured after inhaling toxic gas fired by Israeli soldiers in Silwan before partially withdrawing from the district. A Palestinian woman was hit with a rubber bullet, he reported.

Sadiq said earlier in a press statement that large numbers of the Israeli police attempted to storm the Isawiya district, but youths confronted them with stones and empty bottles before violent clashes erupted, ending in several cases of suffocation. Israeli police let off occasional barrages of toxic gas and gunfire.

Isawiya residents marched through the town carrying a symbolic coffin of the one year old baby Mohammed Abu Sarah, who died yesterday after inhaling toxic gas on Friday, in the first time in years armed protesters appeared in the Palestinian march.