The Commander-in-Chief of the Israeli Army Gadi Eizenkot ordered the transfer of the whole Kfir Brigade to the Hebron area, south of the West Bank, in order to punish its residents for operations which resulted in the death of 4 Jewish settlers on Thursday after it came to light that the perpetrators were residents of Hebron.

The order was given based on the resolution of the ministerial council led by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Kfir Brigade is considered to be the biggest Israeli armed infantry brigade, consisting of 5 battalions and the forces of this brigade are spread all over the West Bank. However it will now be based in the Hebron area alone. As soon as the vanguard troops were deployed, pilot military checkpoints were set up, a number of raids on the city’s neighbourhoods were carried out and violent clashes occurred between Palestinian youth and the Israeli forces.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that these confrontations resulted in tens of citizens being injured by live ammunition and rubber bullets since the above mentioned forces arrived.

Clashes with Israeli forces took place yesterday in several areas in addition to Hebron such as Al-Beera, Qalqilya and even the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Ministry, the number of attacks until yesterday stand at 8 injured by live ammunition, 3 injured by rubber coated bullets and cases of suffocation during clashes at the northern entrance of Al-Beera. In addition to this, 12 citizens were injured by live ammunition in the lower parts of Hebron and the cases of suffocation were not counted due to their high number. As for the Gaza Strip, 11 citizens were injured by live ammunition including a young man whose injury was described as serious, and another whose hand was hit by a gas bomb.

In Qalqilya more than 150 citizens were wounded by live ammunition and rubber coated bullets and there were cases of suffocation during the confrontations which took place in the Al-Naqqar district and the town of Azzun.