Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, targeting a currency exchange and, according to the Red Crescent, leaving dozens of Palestinians wounded.
Israel carries out frequent raids across the West Bank, where tensions have remained high throughout the Gaza war, but incursions into central Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, are relatively rare.
A military statement said that "forces conducted a targeted raid on a currency exchange business that transfers terror funds to Hamas," the Palestinian militant group whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
The forces arrested five people "suspected of terrorist activity" and confiscated "hundreds of thousands of shekels that were identified as terror funds."
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that the Israeli operation left at least 27 people wounded, eight of them by live fire, 14 by rubber bullets and five by shrapnel. Another 31 people were treated for tear gas inhalation.
An AFP journalist saw soldiers on the ground around Al-Manara Square in the city center and on balconies overlooking it.
"Special forces suddenly stormed" the area, said witness Ihab Abu Sneineh, a 22-year-old shopkeeper.
"We didn't know what was happening," he told AFP, adding that the forces were "storming from all directions" before entering an exchange office near his shop.
Palestinians were throwing stones at troops as they began the operation, the AFP journalist said.
Witnesses told AFP that the army withdrew in the early afternoon.
According to the Red Crescent, its teams treated a 12-year-old boy shot in the back and a 71-year-old man wounded in the raid.
The medical organization also accused Israeli forces of impeding the evacuation of wounded people.
Since the Gaza war began, Israeli raids on Palestinian population centers, particularly in the northern West Bank, have intensified.
Previous Israeli operations, earlier this year and in December 2023, have similarly targeted currency exchange offices.
Egypt condemned Tuesday's raid and the "aggressive and extremist Israeli policies," dubbing Israel "the main source of destabilization in the region."
Since the start of the Gaza war, Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank have killed at least 972 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures.
In the same period, at least 36 Israelis, both civilians and security forces, have been killed in attacks or during military operations in the territory, according to Israeli figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
AFP
Comments