Ramallah, November 21 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have reportedly clashed with Palestinians in several locations of the occupied West Bank, injuring over a dozen of the protesters, one of them in critical condition.
 
According to local media reports, 16 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes that erupted after Friday prayers.  The skirmishes started around an Israeli military checkpoint close to Beit El settlement outside the central West Bank city of Ramallah.  Israeli forces also attacked the Palestinian protesters in Hebron and in Bireh.
 
Most of the casualties came when Israeli forces shot live rounds to disperse the Palestinian protesters.  Sources at the al-Ahli hospital in Hebron confirmed that 10 of the inured Palestinians had gunshot wounds.
 
The latest wave of tensions was triggered by Israel's imposition in August of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.
 
Palestinians say the Tel Aviv seeks to change the status quo of al-Aqsa. They are also angry at Israeli extremists, who escorted by army forces, have stepped up their raids on the sensitive site, which is Islam's third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.