Security forces clashed with Palestinians in the West Bank on Saturday, in an area that has seen a recent uptick in friction, the Israeli military and Palestinian medics said.
The clashes were part of days of tension in the area surrounding the West Bank outpost of Homesh and a spike in violence elsewhere in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
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Palestinians clash with Israeli troops in the village of Burqa in the northern West Bank, December 25, 2021.
(Photo: AFP)
During the clashes, the military said, hundreds of Palestinians threw rocks and burned tires and shots were fired in the area. The military said forces responded with live fire and "riot dispersal means," typically tear gas and stun grenades.
The military also said shots were fired from a passing vehicle toward a military post near the West Bank city of Nablus, which is south of Homesh. It was not clear if the shooting was related to the clashes.
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Palestinian demonstrators stand by a burning barricade during a protest against Jewish settlements, in Burqa village, December 24, 2021
(Photo: Reuters)
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 10 people were wounded by live fire. The Palestinian Health Ministry said one of them, a 17-year-old, was seriously wounded. Dozens of others were wounded by rubber bullets.
A soldier was lightly wounded, the military said.
The most recent clashes come amid an increase in Israeli-Palestinian violence.
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Yehuda Dimantman and the manhunt for the terrorists responsible for the shooting
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson unit)
Last week, 25-year-old yeshiva student Yehuda Dimantman was killed and two others were wounded near Homesh, when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at their passing vehicle.
On Thursday, thousands of Jewish nationalists marched to Homesh to mark the end of the mourning period for Dimantman and on Friday, Israeli forces dismantled structures that settlers had erected at the outpost.
Earlier this month, an ultra-Orthodox Jew was left seriously injured after being stabbed by a Palestinian attacker outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City.
A week before, a Hamas militant opened fire in the Old City, killing an Israeli man. Both attackers were killed by Israeli forces.
Settler violence against Palestinians has seen a similar increase during the olive harvest. In mid-November, Jewish settlers attacked a group of Palestinian farmers with pepper spray and clubs in the farmland surrounding Homesh, injuring four people.