Injuries in Palestinian demonstrations against the US position on settlements

More than 63 Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli forces in several areas of the West Bank, following protests against the US administration's decision not to consider Israeli settlements as a violation of international law.

Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted the Palestinian Red Crescent that most of the injuries were due to tear gas and rubber bullets.

The clashes came after the Palestinians demonstrated in response to a call by the Palestinian factions to the residents of the West Bank to go out on a day of anger, in protest against the US decision not to criminalize the settlement activities of the occupation in the West Bank, and in protest against the martyrdom of the prisoner Sami Abu Diak in the Israeli jails due to medical negligence.

Clashes
In the center of Ramallah, several thousand people took part in a central demonstration joined by Prime Minister Mohammad Ashtiyeh, as well as a number of politicians.

"We are here to say with a clear and loud voice that we want to end the occupation, we want the right of return and our right to our land, and these strangers in the settlements have no place on our land," Ashtiyeh told the media.

Participants in the demonstration carried pictures of the prisoner Sami Abu Diak, who was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning at the Ramla prison clinic after a struggle with cancer.

The demonstrators went to the northern area adjacent to Beit El camp, north of the city.

Ambulances treated young people who suffered from asphyxia as a result of inhaling tear gas. Ambulances were seen transporting injured people.

In the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a march of about 4,000 people arrived in the city center with slogans condemning settlement policy.

Demonstrators burned Israeli and US flags, as well as burnings of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ally, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The city of Hebron in the southern West Bank witnessed sporadic clashes at the seam points in the center of the city and in the cities of Halhoul, Dura, Beit Ummar and Al-Arroub refugee camp, following a march in which about 2,000 people participated.

Gaza participates
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian national and Islamic forces called on the international community to take responsibility for "violations by the US administration and Israel against the Palestinians."

The Palestinian factions held a stand in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the center of Gaza City, in rejection of the US decision.

Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said that the recent US decisions against the settlements are invalid and constitute a clear violation of the Palestinian right.

Radwan explained that "the US administration puts that decision in line with the Israeli occupation, which has been practicing incursion on Palestinian land," stressing, "We will address such decisions with our unity and peaceful marches and means."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a week ago that the United States considers that settlements in the occupied West Bank are not contrary to international law.

Israel welcomed the US decision, while the Palestinian Authority said it would call for an international inquiry into the legality of Washington's position.

In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, where more than 400,000 Israelis live in settlements built on the land of about 3 million Palestinians. Settlements are illegal under international law.