JERUSALEM (JTA) — An elderly Palestinian man died after he reportedly inhaled tear gas used by the Israeli army to break up a protest in a West Bank village.
Saeed Jaser Ali, 85, died in the hospital on Thursday morning, according to Reuters. Eyewitnesses told the news service that a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops dispersing a protest on Wednesday near Nablus had entered his house.
The Israel Defense Forces reportedly is looking into the incident.
The protest was celebrating the 49th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, the political home of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the late Yasser Arafat.
Some 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank in 2013, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
