By Izzat Ramini
Albawaba.com - Ramallah
The Israeli police stormed late Friday the Aqsa Mosque compound “to take down the Palestinian flag which was posted on top of the Dome of the Rock, according to Palestinian security sources.
Four Palestinians were killed in the clashes with Israeli forces during the day, and more than 200 were wounded, said the sources.
Ahmed Mohammed Kassem, 25, died after being shot in the chest with a live bullet by Israeli troops at the western entrance to the Palestinian town of Tulkarem.
In Qalqilya, Bashir Saleh Salawit, 15, was shot in the abdomen and Ghassan Hassan Salem was killed in confrontations in the town of Ramallah. In Gaza Strip, 23-year-old Jaber Ahmad Al Mishal was shot dead during the violent clashes.
With the new fatalities on the Palestinian side, the death toll has reached 142 since the bloody violence erupted four weeks ago.
Israeli tanks and helicopters were heavily shelling the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and Ramallah on Friday evening.
Heavy machine guns and tanks were bombarding the city from the Jewish settlement of Bizgot until a late hour the same day.
A large rally was staged earlier in the city in response to a call by all the Palestinian Islamist and nationalist movements.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian security source confirmed in a statement to Albawaba.com that the headquarters of the Palestinian intelligence in Jericho were hit by showers of Israeli 500 and 800mm machineguns.
He said a restaurant in the city was completely destroyed by the Israeli shelling.
A Palestinian police post in Beit Sahour Israeli also came under attack. Armed Palestinians retaliated by opening fire at the Gilo settlement in the nearby Beit Jala.
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