Israeli forces shoot 9 university students on Tulkarem campus

TULKAREM (Ma’an) -- At least 9 Palestinian students were shot and injured on Sunday when clashes broke out with Israeli forces outside a university in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.

Clashes erupted after a group of Israeli soldiers deployed at an Israeli military base illegally set up on the campus of Palestine Technical University- Kadoorie, locals told Ma’an.

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Soldiers reportedly advanced towards university buildings where they were confronted by students throwing stones.

Palestinian medical sources at Tulkarem’s public hospital told Ma’an that several students were evacuated in Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances following the clashes.

Four of the victims were hit with live ammunition in their lower extremities and five others were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets, medics said, adding that a paramedic was injured by a rubber-coated steel bullet while evacuating students.

Dozens of others suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, medics added.

An Israeli army spokesperson did not have immediate information on the incident.

Violence on the campus of Palestine Technical University has been near-daily in recent weeks.

Following student-organized marches that started in October to protest Israeli violations and raids onto the university campus, administrators reported that Israeli forces had positioned themselves at a temporary base on university property.

A head administrator of the university, Dirar Elayyan, told Ma’an earlier this month that non-students then began to enter the campus and throw stones at the Israeli base, prompting violent clashes that have severely interrupted normal campus life and left several students seriously injured.

The university reportedly began preparations to build a wall to prevent the entrance of outsiders last month, however Israeli forces stopped the construction and confiscated a bulldozer, assaulting workers, Elayyan said.

Palestinian leadership has recently requested international protection for Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory amid a recent increase in violence, but concrete moves have yet to be made to address the request.