A nurse from west Cork has told how she and a group of volunteers had warning shots and a grenade fired at them by Israeli soldiers as they tried to reach a refugee camp in Nablus. Palestinian members of the groups were beaten by the soldiers, she added.
Ms Mary Kelly, 24 other international volunteers and six Palestinian medical staff were allowed pass through an Israeli checkpoint but were then stopped by tanks.
"Two Israeli tanks approached us and fired warning shots. We stopped and formed a circle around the Palestinians. The Israeli soldiers threw a percussion grenade and the situation began to get ugly. They pushed us to the ground and beat and kicked the men. I was knocked down," Ms Kelly said.
"Our aim was to visit Balata camp where the food and water situation is very bad. The unconfirmed toll there is 25 injured and 17 dead," she added. Having just visited the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, she added that there were "79 bodies in the hospital, some of them in the dairy truck because the morgue is full".
