At least nine Palestinians were inured Saturday in fierce clashes with the Israeli army in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as thousands of Palestinians joined funeral processions to bury seven Palestinians killed a day earlier.
Among the injured were a two-year-old and a seven-year-old girl, sad Haaretz newspaper, quoting Israel Radio.
Palestinian sources said that all were injured by live fire, and that two were in a critical condition.
The Israeli army confirmed that it had used live ammunition in the clashes when soldier’s lives were endangered, according to Haaretz.
The clashes took place on the Karni-Netzarim road, at the Erez crossing and in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, said the paper.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, more that 30 000 people participated in the funeral of five of the Palestinians killed Friday in clashes with the Israeli army.
The massive procession moved from Nablus to the Balata refugee camp, which was home to three of the dead.
Meanwhile, the paper said that a Palestinian man tried to stab an Israeli border policeman at the Damascus Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem.
The policeman was not injured and the man was captured, added the paper.
Overnight, the southern West Bank town of Hebron came under heavy Israeli army artillery and machine-gun fire, in what witnesses described as the worst shelling in six months of violence, said AFP.
A total of 28 people were injured and dozens of houses were damaged in the shooting, which ran almost 12 hours from 4:30 p.m. (1430 GMT) Friday until 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) the following morning, Palestinian police told the agency.
One of those injured was in serious condition, while the others were moderately to lightly wounded, police said.
For most of the week, Israeli tanks have been firing shells into the Arab neighborhood of Abu Sneinah, which overlooks a Jewish enclave in the divided city where a 10-month-old Israeli baby was killed on Monday.
The situation in Hebron has been tense since the baby, Shalevet Pass, was shot dead by a sniper.
But the overnight attacks on Hebron targeted various parts of the West Bank town in an "almost random way," one witness said, describing them as the worst since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out late last September.
In the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian gunmen in Khan Yunis exchanged fire throughout the night with Israeli troops stationed at the neighboring Gush Katif Jewish settlement, but no one was reported injured, said the agency.
Another firefight took place Saturday after Palestinian gunmen shot at an Israeli army camp east of Beit Sahur, near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, said AFP, adding that no one was injured – Albawaba.com
