An Israeli baby sustained a head injury as Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers ahead of the Palestinians’ imminent statehood bid at the United Nations.

The 16-month-old girl was hit in the head with a rock during the Palestinian riots late Wednesday afternoon in the northern West Bank. She was rushed to a hospital in Petach Tikvah.

Gunshots were fired at a car traveling near the northern West Bank community of Karnei Shomron. Bullet holes were discovered in the car; no one was injured.

Hundreds of Palestinians rioted near Hebron, according to reports, and dozens gathered at checkpoints throughout the West Bank, throwing stones at Israeli troops and burning tires. Three Palestinians were arrested in the clashes.

Israeli troops used a new weapon to disperse Palestinian rioters. “The Scream,” a non-lethal sonic weapon, releases a very loud noise that people cannot tolerate, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The clashes come a day after hundreds of Jewish settlers and their supporters marched from several sites in the West Bank to protest the Palestinians’ statehood bid.

Also Wednesday, thousands of Palestinians rallied in the West Bank city of Ramallah in support of their statehood bid at the U.N., which is expected to come Friday at the Security Council.

Participants at the rally near the burial place of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat waved Palestinian flags and signs in support of Palestine becoming the 194th U.N. member state.

Palestinian Authority schools were closed to allow students to attend the rally. Civil servants also were allowed to attend during work hours, Haaretz reported.

Marches and rallies are scheduled for other Palestinian cities throughout the week, Ynet reported.

It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.

This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions. 

We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.

As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday! 

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a gift and our board will match it.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$129 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT