Israel hunts Palestinian gunmen, raids official news agency
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces entered the Palestinian city of Ramallah and raided the offices of the official Palestinian news agency, the agency and witnesses said, a day after gunmen wounded several Israelis near a settlement.
Seven people were wounded in the drive- by shooting by Palestinian gunmen at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement in the occupied West Bank late Sunday, with doctors forced to prematurely deliver the baby of one of the wounded, Israeli officials said.
Israeli soldiers entered Ramallah in the 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.
Two people were hit with live bullets during the clashes, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Later soldiers raided the headquarters of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, including the photography and editing offices, a statement from the news agency said.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat on Twitter denounced the raids as a “deliberate and reckless campaign led by the Israeli government and its army against the people of Palestine”.
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 attack.
Doctors at the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem earlier delivered the baby of one victim of the shooting who was pregnant via a caesarean section, the hospital said.
The hospital added that the mother, 21, was stable on Monday 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 on Monday morning that the perpetrators had so far not been located.
“IDF ( Israel Defence 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 on Monday 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 Nov 26, a Palestinian rammed Israeli soldiers with a car and injured three of them. — AFP