RAMALLAH, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- At least four Israeli soldiers and tens of Palestinians were wounded during clashes that erupted overnight in the West Bank city of Nablus, said Palestinian and Israeli security sources on Thursday.
Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that "the clashes erupted after an Israeli army force, accompanied by military bulldozers, was subjected to a homemade detonated explosive, wounding four Israeli army forces."
The sources said that Israeli forces stormed Nablus city to escort dozens of Israeli settlers to Joseph's Tomb, a flashpoint site in Nablus to perform religious rituals.
Blocking the streets leading to Joseph's Tomb, the young Palestinian men closed the main roads with iron barriers, burned tens of car tires, and threw stones at the Israeli soldiers who opened fire at the protestors.
As a result, the sources explained that the Israeli soldiers fired live bullets, rubber-coated metal bullets, and tear gas grenades at the protestors to disperse them.
During the clashes, at least 56 Palestinians were wounded, among whom, three were injured by live bullets and three by rubber bullets, while the rest suffered from suffocation due to tear gas grenades, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
"We transferred six of the injuries to the local hospital to receive the necessary treatment, while the rest suffered from suffocation and were treated in the field," the PRCS said in a press statement.
Avichai Adraee, spokesperson of the Israeli army, said in a press statement that "an officer and three soldiers were injured during an activity to secure the entry of Israeli worshipers to Joseph's Tomb in Nablus after a foot force passed near an explosive device that was activated remotely."
"Directly, our forces evacuated the injuries to an Israeli hospital to receive their treatment as some of them were in moderate condition and some in minor condition," Adrea added.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, announced its responsibility of targeting the Israeli army force in Nablus.
It said in a press statement on Thursday that "one of our forces detonated a highly explosive device in an elaborate ambush of an Israeli army force, wounding a number of its soldiers." ■
