Israeli Forces Attack Palestinians Protesting Search Operation


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Israeli forces attacked Palestinians protesting over Tel Aviv’s crackdown in search for three allegedly missing Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the northern city of Umm al-Fahm to support Palestinian administrative detainees and protest against Israel’s ongoing search operation.

Israeli soldiers, who used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters, injured several people.

Meanwhile, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Israel to exercise restraint in its search for the missing Israelis, Press TV reported.

The office said the scale of operations and the number of people they are affecting is deeply disturbing.

Israeli forces have killed several Palestinians and arrested more than 400 others, including Hamas members and lawmakers, as part of a search campaign for three settlers, whom Israel claims went missing in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) on June 12. Israeli soldiers have also raided some 2,100 buildings in the West Bank.

The Tel Aviv regime accuses the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas of kidnapping the three Israeli settlers. However, Hamas rejects the claim, saying that Israel seeks to sabotage the recent reconciliation accord reached between the Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah, which led to the formation of the Palestinian national unity government earlier this month.