A group of journalists reporting from the scene of clashes between Palestinian protests and Israeli soldiers came under fire from the Israeli side, which apparently targeted them with a barrage of tear gas canisters.
The incident happened amid the so-called ‘days of rage’ — a series of protests against Donald Trump’s proposal to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. One of the demonstrations against the plan was held on Saturday outside of Ramallah, near the city of Al-Bireh in the West Bank.
The confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers was quite intensive. The demonstrators pelted the Israeli side with stones and burned tires, as the soldiers fired tear gas grenades. At one moment, a barrage of gas canisters landed right next to where a group of journalists covering the event stood, sending them fleeing and scurrying for gas masks.
“The soldiers deploy a large number of tear gas grenades in one go, firing them from vehicles equipped with launchers,” RT Arabic correspondent Yafa Staiti reported. “The grenades land close to each other. And the gas is really strong. It knocks your breath out.”
Footage of the incident shows a group of people carrying a man from where the clouds of smoke seemed denser. The man was an Al Jazeera cameraman, who was reportedly injured in the altercation.
The “Deal of the Century” proposed by US President Donald Trump this week would see the creation of a Palestinian state in the form of several enclaves within Israeli territory and with a capital outside of East Jerusalem. The proposal was rejected by the Palestinian side, which was not involved in formulating it and which sees it as an attempt to legitimize Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
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