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Scene. File. Published by Maan News
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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Three Palestinians were injured after Israeli forces opened fire towards hundreds of residents, who resisted against an Israeli settler attack in the Urif village, in southern Nablus of the northern occupied West Bank, on Thursday evening.

Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that more than 30 heavily armed Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.

Daghlas said that Israeli settlers attacked an under-construction project to expand a road in the village and damaged equipment as Israeli forces were deployed across the area.

Daghlas added Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear-gas bombs towards Palestinian residents attempting to protect the village from the attack.

Three Palestinians were injured during the clashes and dozens of others suffered from tear-gas inhalation.

Daghlas confirmed that residents managed to force out the Israeli settlers out of the village.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.

Many Palestinian activists and rights groups have accused Israel of fostering a "culture of impunity" for Israelis committing violent acts against Palestinians.

The Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported that Israeli settlers' vandalism in the occupied West Bank is a daily routine and is fully backed by Israeli authorities.

The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and violent acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.