ISRAELI occupation forces attacked Palestinians marking the 69th anniversary of the “Nakba,” the catastrophe of Israel’s creation, across the West Bank yesterday.

Troops used tear gas and rubber-coated bullets to break up Nakba Day marches in Bethlehem and Ramallah, the Ma’an news agency reported.

In Bethlehem, at least three people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds from the “tutu” (.22 calibre) rifle rounds.

Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters at fleeing marchers in what one resident called “the worst gas experiences” they had seen in five years.

In Ramallah, seven demonstrators were shot and injured after they marched from Yasser Arafat Square to the Beit El military checkpoint.

And in Tulkarem, a gathering in support of prisoners on hunger strike was attacked with tear gas.

An Israeli army spokeswoman claimed: “Violent riots involving hundreds of Palestinians rolling burning tyres and hurling rocks at Israeli forces broke out in Ramallah and Bethlehem.” She confirmed that rubber-coated bullets had been fired at protesters.

Meanwhile, Ma’an and the Wafa news agency reported that Gaza fisherman Moham med Bakr had died of gunshot wounds in an Israeli hospital yesterday afternoon after the Israeli navy fired on his boat off the besieged territory.

Resistance movement Hamas held its own Nakba commemoration on Sunday.

Some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails began a hunger strike a month ago, led by PLO commander Marwan Barghouti.

On Sunday, Mr Barghouti’s lawyer Khader Shkirat said he was refusing water in order to see his protest “to the end.” Mr Barghouti has lost 29lb and now weighs just 8st75lb.

In South Africa, a number of ANC leaders and ministers, including Vice-President Cyril Ramaphosa, joined a 24-hour hunger strike on Sunday evening in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners.

Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five anti-terrorist heroes imprisoned in the US for a decade and a half, said yesterday: “What is happening in Palestine today is a shame for humanity.”

Nakba Day commemorates the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in the newly-created state of Israel.

Many marchers carried placards in the shape of keys, symbolising their demand for the return of their homes and land.