Israel forces hunt gunmen; victim’s baby delivered

RAMALLAH: Israeli forces entered the Palestinian city of Ramallah yesterday after gunmen opened fire on several Israelis near a West Bank settlement, as doctors prematurely delivered the baby of one of the wounded. Soldiers entered the city yesterday morning, with low-level clashes breaking out a few hundred metres from the house of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, AFP journalists said. They seized the security camera footage of a nearby building, according to employees.

At least one man was arrested, the AFP journalists said. An army spokeswoman said she could not comment on the Ramallah raid, including whether it was part of the hunt for the gunmen from Sunday night’s incident. Seven people were wounded in the drive-by shooting at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement in the occupied West Bank, including a 30-week pregnant woman taken to hospital in serious condition. Doctors at the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem delivered the baby via a caesarean section, the hospital said, adding the mother, 21, was stable yesterday but the baby had taken a turn for the worse.

“There has unfortunately been a deterioration in the baby’s condition. The family is requesting prayers for him,” a hospital spokeswoman said. The others wounded in the attack were not in life-threatening condition. The army said yesterday morning that the perpetrators had so far not been located. “IDF (Israel Defense Forces), border police and security forces commenced extensive searches in the villages in the area as part of the hunt for the terrorists who committed the attack,” a statement yesterday said.

“The IDF will continue to operate to apprehend the terrorists and ensure the security of civilians.” The Islamist Hamas movement, which runs the Gaza Strip, praised the attack, saying in a statement that it proved “resistance” was still alive in the West Bank. Palestinian attacks against Israelis occur sporadically in the West Bank. On November 26, a Palestinian rammed Israeli soldiers with a car and injured three of them. — AFP