Large demonstrations took place in Hebron, Gaza City, Jenin, Nablus, and Ramallah on Thursday to mark the day of solidarity with the more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners currently being held in Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Maan News Agency reported.
The demonstrations took place amid a major row with Israel over its failure to release a batch of prisoners held for more than twenty years as previously agreed upon as a part of ongoing peace negotiations.
Over 3000 protesters marched through the embattled Southern West Bank city of Hebron raising Palestinian flags, images of Palestinian prisoners, and signs calling for an end to Israeli violations of Palestinian prisoners' rights on Thursday.
Israeli forces injured 10 Palestinians as they dispersed the protest, while dozens suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation from canisters fired by Israeli forces in the Bab al-Zawiya area of central Hebron.
Medics said that six people were shot with live ammunition in their lower extremities while others shot with rubber-coated steel bullets. The injured were taken to Hebron hospitals for treatment afterwards.
Israeli forces also detained the employees of a medical laboratory in the area during the clashes, and handcuffed them for a while before releasing them, medics said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that "dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks at security personnel, who responded with riot dispersal means," confirming that several Palestinians had been hit.
Hebron governor Kamil Hmeid who participated in the demonstration, praised the resilience and steadfastness of people of Hebron in the face of the Israeli occupation.
Hmeid also reiterated that there will be no peace or stability until all Palestinian and Arab prisoners are released, especially the fourth group of veteran prisoners that Israel has refused to release, despite promises to the Palestinians as a condition to begin the current round of peace negotiations.
Hundreds of prisoners' families and a number of Palestinian blocks took part in march that commenced from Sarayah square to the International Red Cross Committee headquarters in Gaza City to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day.
Protestors carried 250 caskets that were wrapped with the Palestinian flags, representing currently ill prisoners that protesters said would die without medical treatment denied to them by Israel.
Mothers of prisoners also took part in the march, holding pictures of their detained sons.
Jamil Mizher, a leader in Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Maan' "On Palestinian Prisoners Day, prisoners behind bars are demanding Palestinian leadership not to give in to American-Israeli pressure" to accept an alternative to freeing Palestinian prisoners.
He also called on Palestinian leadership to put the prisoners' issue at the top of their priorities.
Mizher added that the resistance "in all its' forms" is the best solution for freeing the prisoners.
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