At least two Palestinians were shot and wounded by rubber-coated steel bullets and dozens of others suffered varying degrees of injury from the inhalation of tear gas on Thursday, October 17, as Israeli occupation forces violently quelled a peaceful demonstration in the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a Wafa news agency correspondent reported.

Palestinians left the village en masse and were met by Israeli soldiers, who fired teargas and rubber bullets in an effort to disperse the procession, said a spokeswoman for Yesh Din, Sharona Weiss, who attended the demonstration. Weiss said dozens of settlers arrived at the scene and began hurling stones at the Palestinians.

Following the Israel army’s violent suppression of the initially peaceful protest near Turmus Ayya on Thursday, October 17, Palestinians hurl stones at a military jeep. (Footage: Palestinian TV)

The demonstration was organized by Palestinian residents to protest the Israel’s founding of a new settlement outpost on land belonging to the town of Turmus Ayya. Settlers have illegally erected structures there over a dozen times in recent years in an attempt to establish an outpost, but Israeli military forces have intervened each time to prevent this.

Earlier this month, several new structures were spotted, sparking the ire of Palestinians, who owned the land before it was appropriated by Israel “for security reasons.”