Description

Tires burn after local activists erected a bonfire beside the Israeli
separation wall as it passes beside the camp on March 26
(MaanImages/file)
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinians were injured on Saturday during clashes between local youths and Israeli forces in Aida refugee camp north of Bethlehem.

A local source said that the two young men were shot by Israeli soldiers during the clashes, one with a live bullet in the leg and the other with a metal-covered steel bullet.

The source said that Israeli forces entered the refugee camp and fired large amounts of tear gas into the refugee camp, where clashes have been ongoing since the afternoon.

Aida camp is a frequent site of clashes because it is located beside Rachel's Tomb, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation wall despite being in the middle of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

Israeli forces shot more than 20 youths with rubber-coated steel bullets and live bullets during clashes that occurred almost daily in December and January, and clashes continue to break out occasionally in the area.

There are 19 refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, within which live about a quarter of the 771,000 registered refugees in the territory.

More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants -- were pushed into exile or driven out of their homes in the conflict surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.