Israeli raid in occupied West Bank injures 24 Palestinians
At least 24 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli gunfire during a raid on Ramallah and el-Bireh in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Injuries resulted from the forces firing live bullets, rubber bullets, and tear gas, the report said. Among those injured is a 71-year-old man hit by rubber bullets and a 12-year-old child shot in the back near the local market, Wafa said.
The PRCS said its medical crews were repeatedly obstructed from reaching the wounded, with Israeli forces firing “warning shots” at ambulances.
Al Jazeera sources said Israeli forces stormed the governorate for several hours before pulling out, raiding a money exchange office in central Ramallah and el-Bireh, confiscating its contents and arresting several employees.
CCTV footage released by Gaza’s Government Communication Center showed Israeli soldiers throwing a smoke grenade into a hair salon in Ramallah, where civilians had taken shelter.
Al Jazeera sources said that Israeli forces deployed snipers on rooftops and brought in additional reinforcements during the raid. Separate reports said the army also stormed Hebron, closing off the area around the health roundabout in the city centre.
Israeli raid in Ramallah aims to weaken image of Palestinian Authority
Paris-based political journalist Faten Elwan says the ongoing Israeli raid in Ramallah appears to be more a show of force over the occupied West Bank rather than a targeted military operation.
“Israel is sending a clear message that Oslo is dead, that the Palestinian Authority is dead, and that there is no power on the ground but the Israeli forces and the settlers that now act as a shadow government for the vision of the Israeli army,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Definitely when they [Israeli forces] go into Ramallah, the political capital of the Palestinians, a few blocks away from the presidential office, it’s a clear message that ‘I can come in in broad daylight and show who has the power on the ground,'” she added.
“That also sends a message to the Palestinian people and weakens the image of the Palestinian Authority more and more.”
Violent West Bank raids part of ‘collective punishment of Palestinian people’
Israel’s latest military operation in Ramallah shows its war is not just with Hamas or Gaza but with “all the Palestinian people”, says Adel Abdel Ghafar, senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
“We’ve seen increasing incursions of the Israeli military into the West Bank. We’ve seen the demolition of homes. We’ve seen demolition of properties,” he told Al Jazeera.
“This is all part and parcel of the collective punishment of the Palestinian people in the West Bank,” Abdel Ghaffar said, adding that part of the goal is to “financially strangle” people in the territory.
Because the Palestinian Authority (PA) is unable to respond effectively, Israel carries out its operations “with impunity across the West Bank”, said Abdel Ghafar.
“Unfortunately, the PA is really an authority in name. It doesn’t really fully control the West Bank, and really the West Bank is under Israeli occupation and has been since 1967,” he added.
And this is what Netanyahu has in mind for Gaza as well when he says the PA should take over the government there.
33 Palestinians injured in Israel’s Ramallah raid: Health Ministry
The number of people injured in the Israeli military raid in Ramallah and nearby el-Bireh in the occupied West Bank has risen to 33, the Palestinian Health Ministry says.
As we reported earlier, one of those injured is a child who was hit by live fire. The ministry says the 13-year-old is undergoing surgery after being injured in the abdomen.
