Dozens of Palestinian civilians suffered breathing problems on Friday after the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired teargas at them in Ras Karkar town west of Ramallah.
The confrontations erupted after IOF suppressed a march at the entrance to the town to demand the handover of the body of the martyr Khaled Nofal who died after settlers shot him on the Raysan mountain near the town.
The protesters demanded the expulsion of settlers from Jabal al-Raysan which the occupation decided to seize in July 2019 under the pretext of turning it into a military area.
Local sources reported that the IOF soldiers stormed Ras Karkar chased a number of young men to arrest them and fired sound and gas bombs at citizens’ homes. Several citizens suffered breathing problems.
Nofal was married and father of a child and he was martyred on Friday 5/2/2021 after a settler shot him at the top of Jabal Al Rayan.
The spokesman for the IOF said that a Palestinian arrived in his car to Ephraim settlement and claimed that he tried to break into the house of a settler who shot the young man which led to his death.
However Nofal’s family indicated that he headed at dawn to Qemat Al-Raysan to tend to his land but the IOF soldiers and settlers executed him as soon as he arrived at the area.
The family confirmed that their son was not armed and IOF could force him to leave or arrest him but “the criminal mentality of IOF and settlers made them kill him.”
