Israeli soldiers shot and injured, on Sunday evening, eight Palestinians with rubber-coated steel bullets in Beit Fajjar town, and one near Dar Salah, in the West Bank district of Bethlehem, and kidnapped two children near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. The Red Crescent in Bethlehem said several military vehicles invaded Beit Fajjar town, and clashed with local youths, before firing dozens of rubber-coated steel bullets, wounding eight Palestinians, while at least ten others suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. The soldiers also invaded the home of Issam Thawabta, who was killed Sunday after reportedly stabbing an Israeli settler, near Gush Etzion Settlement Bloc, and kidnapped his four brothers. Also on Sunday, the soldiers shot and injured a young Palestinian man with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head, in Wad al-Hummus area, near Dar Salah, east of Bethlehem. The young man was moved to the Beit Jala Governmental Hospital, suffering a moderate-but-stable injury. In related news, the soldiers kidnapped two children, identified as Said Ziad Abu Haniyya, 14, and Arkan Mashal, 14, in Azzoun town, east of Qalqilia. The soldiers also fired flares in the village, before invading it and several Palestinian agricultural lands, and closed three roads leading to the village with metal barriers. The closed roads are the northern street, Jayyous-Azzoun and Azzoun-Ezbet at-Tabib.
