REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, RAMALLAH -- At least 14 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers near Qalandia refugee camp between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses and medics said on Monday.
Witnesses said that the clashes broke out during the burial of Mohamed Abu Latifa, a 20-year-old Palestinian young man who was killed in a refugee camp when an Israeli army force stormed his house trying to arrest him.
Witnesses said that hundreds joined the funeral, and dozens of youths gathered near the Israeli checkpoint of Qalandia and showered the soldiers with stones and empty bottles.
The Israeli soldiers fired back at the outraged demonstrators. Six young men were wounded with live ammunition and eight others with rubber-coated metal gunshots.
Ambulances took the casualties to hospitals and medical clinics in the city of Ramallah, where dozens inhaled the heavy teargas after soldiers fired dozens of teargas canisters at the stones throwers, according to Palestinian medics.
Abu Latifa was the third Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank within the last few days. Two had been killed earlier this week in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Hebron.
"The Israeli story that my son died after he jumped from the roof of our house to the ground was untrue. The soldiers shot him with six gunshots in his leg when he was handcuffed," said the father Atta Abu Latifa.
He added that the Israeli soldiers tried several times to arrested him before and this time they shot him and kept him bleeding until he died.
Jamal Lafi, the official in the refugee camp's popular committee told Xinhua that Abu Latifa was killed by an Israeli soldier's gunfire after storming his house to arrest him in the refugee camp.
A senior Palestinian official warned earlier on Monday that the ongoing Israeli escalation of violence against the Palestinians would urge their leadership to make crucial decisions.
"The endless and ongoing Israeli attempts to undermine the efforts of keeping the area stable or reviving the stalled peace process will lead to serious consequences," Nabil Abu Rdineh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.
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