At least one Palestinian was killed and several others were injured on Wednesday, September 13, after Israeli occupation forces opened fire at a protest near Gaza’s northern borders.
According to eyewitnesses quoted by the Palestine Information Center, Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas shells on a small number of protesters who were taking out a rally near the border with Israel.
The protest was organized by youth groups against the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories and in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in different Israeli jails have been protesting against inhumane prison conditions and recently imposed restrictions. Some of the prisoners were on indefinite hunger strikes for weeks.
However, despite protests, extremist settler politician and Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently announced additional restrictions on family visits to the prisoners. A mass hunger strike was called against the decision on September 14 by Palestinian prisoner groups. It was suspended a day earlier after Israeli prison authorities decided to cancel the measures.
Ben-Gvir threatened the government against the cancellation of new restrictions, saying that his party will not participate in the government until the restrictions on family visits imposed on Palestinian prisoners are restored, Times of Israel reported.
The protesters on the Gaza border were also demanding the lifting of the Israeli blockade on the territory imposed since 2006.
Meanwhile, an Israeli court postponed the trial session of 21-year-old Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Manasra by a week on Wednesday. The court was to hear the extension of Mansara’s solitary confinement.
Manasra was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces when he was just 13. He was injured during his arrest and later tortured in the prison for years, causing severe mental illness. Despite his young age and mental condition, he has been placed under solitary confinement for nearly two years now.
