Palestinian boy seriously hurt during clashes, medics say

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy was seriously injured after being hit between the eyes by a non-lethal round fired by Israeli police during clashes in East Jerusalem on Thursday.

Salah Mahmoud’s family said the boy was wounded in the flashpoint district of Issawiya amid clashes between protesters and police during a demonstration by residents over the closure of most access roads to the area, Ynet reported.

The clashes erupted in the early morning when around 100 people, among them schoolchildren, tried to block the main road leading from East Jerusalem to the Dead Sea in protest over the lack of access for vehicles to and from the neighborhood.

Police tried to break up the demonstration, firing tear gas, percussion bombs and sponge rounds as masked youths hurled stones at them, police and an AFP correspondent said.

Medics from the Red Crescent said the round hit the boy between the eyes, smashing his nose and causing heavy bleeding.

He was rushed to the nearby al-Maqased Hospital but later transferred to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in serious condition.

The boy’s father said he was told that his son was evacuated from the street, but that police said they were not aware of a situation of that kind from the flashpoint neighborhood north of Mount Scopus. The police said they were waiting for the hospital to determine the cause of the injury and that they launched an investigation into the incident, Ynet reported.

Paramedics also treated another 16 residents for tear-gas inhalation after a gas canister fired by police hit a local bus, they said.

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said Thursday that unrest in Israel and the West Bank was likely to continue, albeit at lower levels.

Aharonovitch said recent days had seen a drop in rioting, attributing the improvement to decisive action by police against violent protesters. But he warned that fresh attacks by so-called lone-wolf terrorists, acting impulsively without instruction from terror organizations, remained possible.

“We are seeing a period of grassroots terrorism,” Aharonovitch said. “I assess that there will continue to be attacks and incidents in the coming period.”

He added that police aimed to maintain the status quo and prevent Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount.

The minister was speaking at a ceremony marking the official appointment of new Jerusalem District Police Chief Moshe Edri. Edri took over from Yossi Pariente, who was resigning from the force.