US citizen told AFP that he was wounded by an Israeli army bullet on Friday during a demonstration against the expansion of Jewish settlements in the city Betain the possessed West Bank.

“There was a demonstration going on and we had gone there to film it, to make sure the (Israeli) occupation army would be monitored (…) at one point, we ran to get away and I was shot in the leg,” said the man, who asked from his hospital bed to be identified by his pseudonym Amado Sison.

OR Palestinian Red Crescent announced that its team provided first aid to a foreigner who was hit by a bullet during a demonstration, without specifying his nationality.

“Our teams treated the injury of a foreign activist, 40, who was wounded in the thigh by live bullets during clashes with the occupation forces,” the Red Crescent explained.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said its members “used riot gear” and “fired into the air” to repel a “gathering” in the area where Beita is located.

“A little while later, we received a report that a foreigner was injured in an accident due to the use of riot gear and was taken to a hospital,” he added.

Foreign activists often join Palestinian protests against settlement expansion in this northern West Bank city, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, a protester noted.

After the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, the situation in the West Bank, already extremely tense, became even worse.

At least 617 Palestinians have since been killed there by the Israeli military or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on official Palestinian Authority data.

At least 17 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.