Ramallah, January 2 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have attacked hundreds of Palestinian people taking part in protest rallies in the occupied West Bank against the Tel Aviv regime’s land grab policies.

On Friday, Israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters, who were out on the streets in the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah City, to voice their anger at the construction of a new settlement outpost in the area.

One of the protesters was transferred to hospital after he was hit in the head with a rubber bullet and a number of others suffered breathing difficulties due to inhaling tear gas.

The rally came about a week after Israeli settlers, under the protection of the regime’s forces, erected a tent in the al-Shorfa Mountain area and began the excavation work.  Meanwhile, tens of Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation during a similar demonstration in the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus City.

Murad Shteiwi, the Coordinator for Popular Resistance in Kafr Qaddum, said tens of Israeli forces stormed the village and used rubber bullets to break up the gathering, leaving 18 people injured.  They also used tear gas to crack down on the weekly protest in Kafr Qaddum.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Emboldened by anti-Palestine policies of US President Donald Trump, Israel has stepped up its settlement expansion activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounces settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land.

Separately, media reports cited eyewitnesses as saying that Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian young man south of the city of al-Khalil (Hebron) from close range when he tried to prevent them from seizing a generator he and his family uses.

The man, who was identified as 24-year-old Haron Rasmi Aboaram, was injured in the neck and transferred to hospital.