A video has emerged showing an Israeli bulldozer hitting a Palestinian protester with a stone while driving at a high speed in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank.
In the video released on Friday, the bulldozer is seen pushing large rocks towards protesters who were taking part in the weekly demonstrations against the Israeli occupation.
The bulldozer stopped when a man was hit by one of the stones, while rocks continued tumbling towards protesters at the bottom of the street which nearly hit a child.
The father of the child at the scene said the bulldozer continued advancing about a hundred meters from the place where the stones were placed, and drove exceptionally fast.
The Palestinian man who was hit by the stone was taken to a hospital in Qalqilya by the Red Crescent.
The Israeli military claimed in a statement that Palestinians have allegedly participated in a riot in Kafr Qaddum, during which they hurled stones at Israeli soldiers on the scene.
The statement said forces who worked to disperse the riot identified a stone barrier placed at the entrance of the village, adding that engineering tools were used to clear the stones from the road.
“While doing the clearing, mass stone-throwing took place," the statement said.
Residents of Kafr Qaddum regularly hold weekly protest rallies against the Israeli occupation.
Israeli forces have fired tear gas to disperse weekly anti-settlements protests in Kafr Qaddum, leaving a number of people, including children, suffering from suffocation. They have also used rubber bullets and sound bombs against the protesters.
Israeli troops shoot Palestinian child in head in northern West Bank: Ministry
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council in December 2016 adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.
