Days of Palestine – Tulkarm
A number of Palestinian protesters suffered suffocation today when Israeli occupation forces fired teargas at them, during clashes that erupted near the Israeli Gishory factories, illegally built on Palestinian land west of the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm.
Sources said that the soldiers fired toxic gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at a number of students from the Palestine Technical University Kadoorie, causing many cases of suffocation among them.
The students were rallying in protest against the killing of their fellow student Samir Hamidi by Israeli occupation forces last week.
On Monday, 27-year-old Palestinian Samir Hamidi was killed by Israeli occupation forces near the northern West Bank settlement of Einav after allegedly throwing petrol bombs.
In an initial statement on Monday, the army had not mentioned Hamidi was killed, but his death was then reported by Palestinian media.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it was holding Hamidi’s body “according to existing procedures, until a decision is made in accordance with the guidance from elected officials on the issue of holding the bodies of terrorists”.
Family calls for body’s release
The family of Hamidi, from the village of Beit Lid, close to the Israeli settlement at Einav, have refused to receive condolence visits until his body is returned.
Meanwhile, they called on human rights organisations to pressure Israel into releasing the body of Hamidi and to return it to his family, Palestinian media reported this week.
Referring to their son as a “martyr”, the family said they received calls from several Palestinian leaders including Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the governor of Tulkarm, Issam Abu Bakr, who conveyed their support and condolences.
Palestinian media reported the incident saying that Hamidi, a freed prisoner and a student at the Palestine Technical University of Kadoorie, was wounded on Monday evening, after being shot near a checkpoint by Israeli forces.
According to Palestinian media, Israel has kept the bodies of 66 “martyrs” since 2015.
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