Israeli forces today shot and wounded two villagers of al-Jiftlik, north of Jericho.

Head of al-Jiftlik Village Council, Ahmad Ghawanmeh, said that Israeli troops opened fire at two villages, a 16-year-old minor and a 35-year-old man, while attempting to detain them after breaking into their houses in the village, wounding them.

One of the casualties was seriously wounded by live ammunition in the waist, and subsequently taken by an Israeli military helicopter to a hospital inside Israel for treatment. The other casualty was detained.

Horizontally located 33 kilometers to the north of Jericho, al-Jiftlik has a population of some 5,500, who predominantly depend on agriculture and livestock for their main source of livelihood. The village is located within Area C, which comprises 60 percent of the West Bank.

Israel has severely restricted Palestinian access to water in the area, particularly the 23 underground wells used for agriculture and has seized large tracts of land from the village for the construction of seven nearby colonial settlements, military bases, and settler-only bypass roads, pushing the villagers into a crowded enclave, a ghetto, surrounded by walls, settlements and military installations.