Despite an increased Border Police presence at friction points across the country, rioting continued across Israel, Wednesday.
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Hundreds of people gathered at various hotspots around Lod, as Border Police officers were dispatched to various friction points across the city.
Arab Israeli rioters threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod.
Residents reported hearing heavy exchanges of gunfire across the city.
Israel Police declared a nighttime curfew on the city following several days of violence. Sixteen Border Police companies have been deployed throughout the city to enforce the curfew and prevent violence.
A Jewish man is in serious condition after being shot by rioters. Another man was lightly wounded in a rock-throwing incident. In addition, a Jewish man fired gunshots at a group of Arabs in response to their throwing rocks at him. The man claimed to have feared for his life.
Officers also clashed with a group of dozens of Jews in the city.
A team of three senior neurosurgeons at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center' managed to stabilize the condition of an IDF soldier who was brutally beaten by Arab rioters in what one doctor described as a "complex surgery," overnight Wednesday.
Following the surgery, Dr. Ido Strauss said the soldier's situation was "improving. He has regained full consciousness and is defined as moderate and stable."
Magen David Adom paramedic Nadav Arazi, who arrived at the scene, said, "He sat on the sidewalk, conscious, suffering from a bleeding head injury. We were told that he was attacked in riots at the scene, that rocks were thrown at him, and pepper spray was sprayed at him. We performed medical examinations and quickly evacuated him to the hospital while continuing to provide medical treatment.
Earlier, dozens of Jews from Judea and Samaria arrived at the city by bus, some of them armed, purportedly to defend Jewish families in the city. Police ordered them to return to their homes.
In the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, a man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of possessing a weapon in an attempt at disturbing the peace in the city. The suspect was taken to the local police station for questioning.
In Bat Yam, eight rioters, some of them minors, were arrested Thursday night for carrying weapons.
In addition, a TV news crew was attacked in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood while covering a gathering of Jews that planned to make their way to Jaffa and confront Arab residents there. Two of those participating in the protest were arrested for attacking Kan public broadcaster employees. Police blockaded the promenade that stretches between Jaffa and Bat Yam to prevent altercations between residents.
Eleven people were arrested in the northern Arab Israeli city of Umm el-Fahm and the Arab Israeli village of Musmus for disturbing the peace, rock-throwing, burning tires, and vandalizing traffic lights in a demonstration held there. Police officers and riot police on the site dispersed the rioters with riot-control measures.
In Umm al-Fahm, police evacuated a Jewish family that accidentally found themselves in the Arab city.
In Haifa, eight people were arrested on suspicion of rock-throwing and rioting. Likewise, a 23-year-old resident of Kiryat Motzkin was arrested for calling on Israelis to damage cars and stores in Acre. A driver was also arrested on suspicion of carrying a weapon.
During a protest in Or Akiva, police officers used crowd control measures to disperse demonstrators after some began to shout racist epithets. Four people were arrested in the incident.
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