RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Palestinian Health Ministry said Saturday a man is suffering paralysis a day after he was shot in the neck by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
The man, Haron Abu Aram, 24, was left quadriplegic, the ministry said.
Witnesses said the incident was triggered when Israeli forces tried to stop Palestinians building a house in a village in southern Hebron and seized an electricity generator belonging to Abu Aram.
Israel prevents Palestinians from building houses on areas under its control in the West Bank without hard-to-obtain building permits.
The Israeli military said 鈥渁 violent riot鈥� was instigated when the troops were evacuating 鈥渁n illegal building鈥� in the At-Tuwani village. The military said Palestinians attacked the forces with 鈥渕assive amount of rocks.鈥�
鈥淲e are aware of a report regarding a Palestinian who was injured by live fire during the incident. The incident is being investigated,鈥� the Israeli military told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Video showed a group of Palestinians trying to recover the generators from the hands of the soldiers before a gunshot is heard and Abu Aram appears on the ground.
In 2020, Israeli has demolished the homes of more than 900 Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to the Israeli rights group B鈥橳selem.
The Palestinians claim the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with a capital in east Jerusalem, for a future state. They say the growing settler population, approaching 500,000 in the West Bank, has made it increasingly difficult to achieve their dream of independence.