Clashes broke out between Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli occupation forces today, Friday, in the cities of the West Bank, and while a UN envoy met with the leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza in an effort to avoid escalation, the occupation authorities approved the construction of thousands of settlement units.
Thousands of Palestinians went out on Friday in demonstrations in Palestinian cities, villages, towns and camps, including occupied Jerusalem, in response to a call launched by the Lions' Den groups from Nablus to support the resistance and stand up to the crimes of the occupation.
The Palestinian territories witnessed massive marches during which the demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing the crimes of the occupation and set tires on fire in city centers and near areas of contact with the occupation forces.
Palestinians demonstrate in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in support of the city of Nablus, after performing Friday prayers# Al-Jazeera # Video pic.twitter.com/mMbIz8W4sD
- Al-Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) February 24, 2023
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that demonstrators (it did not specify their number) were injured by rubber bullets and suffocated with tear gas during the suppression of protest marches by the Israeli occupation forces in a number of cities, villages and camps in the West Bank.
In Hebron, the occupation forces suppressed dozens of young men in the Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, after the funeral of the martyr Muhammad Jawabreh was completed this afternoon.
On the other hand, the young men set tires on fire at the intersections of the camp and threw stones at the occupation soldiers, as an expression of the anger of the Palestinian street towards the escalating crimes against them, the latest of which was the Nablus massacre two days ago.
The occupation forces also dispersed a demonstration in which dozens of Palestinians participated near Bab Al-Zawiya, which leads to the Old City of Hebron, as a result of which a number of Palestinians, known as Osama Al-Qawasmi, the spokesman for the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), were injured with a sound bomb in the face, and his condition was described as stable.
In Manger Square in the city of Bethlehem, and in the city of Tulkarem, the national and Islamic forces organized a support stand for the prisoners in the occupation prisons, where the participants raised pictures of the prisoners and stressed in their words the necessity of closing the internal ranks and activating the state of popular solidarity to support the cause of the prisoners.
Dozens of Palestinians also participated in the weekly demonstrations against settlement expansion projects in the villages of Ramoun, east of Ramallah, Beit Dajan, southeast of Nablus, Aqaba in Tubas and the northern Jordan Valley, and Kafr Qaddum, west of Qalqilya.
On Thursday, a Palestinian was killed and 5 others were injured as a result of settler attacks and occupation forces’ bullets in separate areas of the West Bank, while on Wednesday 11 Palestinians, including 3 elderly and a minor, were killed, and 102 were wounded by live bullets, including 7 in serious condition, and 297 cases of suffocation, during the Israeli army’s storming of the city of Nablus. northern West Bank.
The West Bank and East Jerusalem are witnessing a state of extreme tension, as Israel storms cities and towns in the West Bank, during which Palestinians are killed, in addition to the continuation of home demolitions and arrests.
A member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and its spokesperson, Osama Al-Qawasmi, was injured by an Israeli sound bomb in the face during clashes that broke out in Hebron# Al-Jazeera pic.twitter.com/Ub85IYdsV9
- Al-Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) February 24, 2023
Support for families
The Palestinian factions in the West Bank also organized vigils in support of prisoners in Israeli prisons, during which they raised banners denouncing Israeli practices, according to Anadolu Agency.
In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians participated Friday in demonstrations condemning the martyrdom of 11 Palestinians in the city of Nablus on Wednesday, and in support of prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Participants in the demonstrations called for by "Palestinian factions" and launched in several governorates after performing Friday prayers, chanted slogans calling on the resistance factions to respond to "Israeli crimes", and chanted in support of the prisoners inside the prisons.
📷 *Photos|* A stand organized by the national and Islamic forces in Khan Yunis governorate, after Friday prayers, in support of the prisoners and Nablus pic.twitter.com/sligwRF9RV
- Safa Agency (@SafaPs) February 24, 2023
Institutions concerned with the affairs of prisoners had called for stands in support of them, in all cities and towns of the West Bank.
On February 15, the Prisoners Affairs Authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization said in a joint statement with the Captive Club, that "the detainees began to carry out a disobedience in protest against measures recommended by the Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir to harass them."
The Israeli Prisons Administration had previously informed the prisoners in the new sections to which they were transferred recently, specifically in Nafha (south) and Gilboa (north) prisons, that it would “start reducing the hours during which they can shower so that each section (which includes 120 prisoners) is allowed an hour during the day.” According to the Captive Club.
As of the end of January, the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons reached about 4,780, including 29 female prisoners and about 160 minors, according to institutions specialized in prisoner affairs.
new settlements
In a related context, the Israeli anti-settlement "Peace Now" movement said that the Israeli Supreme Council for Planning and Building had approved the construction of more than 7,000 new settlement units in various parts of the West Bank.
The movement indicated in a statement that this number exceeds the number of settlement units approved in 2022.
She added that the new plans include the legalization of 5 random outposts, which were established by settlers without a government permit.
This Israeli move comes days after the UN Security Council issued a statement, supported by the United States, declaring deep concern and dissatisfaction with Israel's decision to expand settlement construction.
For its part, a Security Council statement said that continued Israeli settlement activity endangers the option of a two-state solution, and expressed its firm opposition to all unilateral measures that impede peace, including Israel's construction and expansion of settlements, confiscation of Palestinian land, legalization of outposts, and demolition. Palestinian homes, and the displacement of Palestinian civilians.
Earlier, Israeli press reports spoke of the Palestinian Authority's agreement to postpone the vote in the Security Council on a resolution condemning the settlements, after the Israeli and Palestinian parties agreed to an American compromise.
According to Israeli reports, Israel has pledged not to take any settlement decisions or demolish Palestinian homes in the coming months.
In early February, the Israeli government announced the legalization of 9 settlement outposts in the West Bank, which was rejected by Palestine and several countries within the Security Council.
meeting in Gaza
Politically, the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wiensland, met with the leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza, seeking to avoid a greater escalation between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation.
Palestinian sources said that Wensland discussed, in the meeting held on Thursday, several files, most notably reducing the state of tension and ensuring non-escalation within the framework of the efforts made by the United Nations in the Palestinian territories.
Wensland had arrived in Gaza yesterday morning via the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, amid great tension, after rockets were fired at Israeli settlements and the Israeli air forces bombed two resistance sites in the Strip.
After no less than 5 rockets were fired from Gaza in response to the death of 11 Palestinians in an Israeli operation in Nablus, Israeli planes raided two sites of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and Israel held Hamas responsible for firing the rockets.
After the massacre, Hamas had warned that its patience was "running out," and the Islamic Jihad movement confirmed their readiness to respond to the Israeli aggression.
In the context of the Palestinian responses to the Nablus massacre, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the Palestinian people and their resistance will not allow anyone to abort their escalating uprising in the West Bank.
Haniyeh stressed in a statement that the Palestinian people are the only ones who have the right to decide, and they have the solution and the contract, and they alone will determine their future, as he put it.