By Izzat Ramini
Albawaba.com – Ramallah
The Israeli forces were on Sunday evening shelling the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, said Palestinian sources.
The sources added that the Israelis were firing at the town from posts on Abu Ghuneim Mount, which overlooks the town near Jerusalem.
They added that the mosque in Beit Sahour was also attacked during the incident.
The endless cycle of bloody violence continued to claim human lives in the Palestinian territories, with four other Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers on a day when Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced he was pausing the peace process.
Imad Ismael Hawamdeh, 23, was shot in the chest when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of youths who were throwing stones and bottles in Samo'a, outside Hebron.
Imad was killed after he attended the funeral of his relative, Majed Hawamdeh, who fell martyr on Saturday.
Earlier Sunday, Nael Ali Zama'areh, 25, was hit by a bullet in the chest in clashes near an access road reserved for Jewish settlers near Hebron.
Zama'areh is the second in his family who was killed in the clashes with Israeli forces.
In the Gaza Strip, a 17-year-old youth died in hospital after he was hit in the chest in a confrontation with soldiers guarding the Kfar Darom settlement, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Wael Mohammad Imad, 14, was shot in the head during a confrontation earlier between Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers at the Beit Hanoun crossing (known to the Israelis as Eretz), the main link between the Gaza Strip and Israel, hospital sources said.
Sunday's toll brought the number of Palestinians killed since Friday alone to 18, half of them gunned down on Friday -- one of the heaviest days of bloodshed since the violence began.
Their deaths bring to 132 the number of people killed in three weeks of violent clashes, mainly involving Palestinian youths throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers who retaliate with tear gas, rubber-coated bullets or live rounds. Close to 5,000 people, mostly Palestinians, have been injured.
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