12th Palestinian dies since Trump’s Jerusalem move

Israel seals off entrance to Ramallah district

FE Team | Published: December 24, 2017 21:51:40

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Dec 24 (Agencies): A Palestinian teenager died on Sunday, nine days after being wounded by Israeli fire during a Gaza protest against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the health ministry said.
Mohammad Sami al-Dahduh, 19, from Gaza City was shot on December 15 during a demonstration on the Israeli border, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
His death brings to 12 the number of Palestinians killed since US President Donald Trump announced on December 6 that he would recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Ten protesters have died after clashes with Israeli troops, two of them on Friday. Two others were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza earlier in the month.
Among the Gazans killed in the December 15 clashes was Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh, who had lost his legs in an Israeli attack a decade ago.
The health ministry in Gaza said the 29-year-old was shot in the head by a sniper, with the UN's human rights chief saying he was "truly shocked" by Abu Thurayeh's death, demanding an "independent and impartial investigation".
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have indefinitely closed down the northern entrance to the occupied West Bank twin cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh.
On Saturday night, amid ongoing protests over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) decided to close off the DCO checkpoint that connects Ramallah to the northern West Bank cities.
"Israel decides to close the DCO checkpoint until further notice due to the ongoing rioting that is taking place at the City Inn roundabout near Ramallah's entrance," noted a statement on Twitter by COGAT, the Israeli military body that administers parts of the West Bank.
"The ball is in the Palestinian people's court and the equation is clear - when peace is restored, normal conditions will resume, but as long as violence continues the border will remain closed."
The checkpoint usually offers a shorter route to travelers, who would otherwise be required to take a longer way that is adjacent to the illegal Beit El settlement.
It is frequently used by Palestinian Authority officials, foreigners, diplomats and journalists going in and out of the occupied West Bank near Ramallah.
Protests in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip erupted earlier this month, after Trump announced the US would be relocating its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, declaring the holy city as Israel's capital.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed 12 Palestinians, including four during air raids in Gaza. At least 2,900 others have been injured and more than 400 arrested.
Last week, the United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution declaring Trump's decision "null and void". It was approved with 128 votes in favour.
Prior to the vote, Trump had threatened to halt aid to member states who voted against his Jerusalem decision, and his administration's ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned countries that Trump would be "taking names" of those who opposed his decision.