Palestinian officials say Israeli army wounds two in Ramallah raid

Israeli army fire wounded two Palestinians on Tuesday during a raid in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry. A hospital in the city received "a young man with a serious gunshot wound to the lower back and a 14-year-old with a live bullet wound to the upper thigh, in addition to numerous cases of suffocation, as a result of the (Israeli army) assault on Ramallah", the ministry said. The army raided the former headquarters of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, seizing documents and furniture, according to AFP journalists who witnessed and filmed the scene. Israel had closed the organisation's office in August 2022 along with six other Palestinian NGOs and civil society groups after designating them "terrorist organisations". Photos and video footage taken by AFP on Tuesday showed Israeli soldiers moving furniture, office equipment, and folders out of the office and onto a trailer attached to a military vehicle. The army also reaffixed its order for the organisation's closure on the front door of the premises. Israeli forces were deployed in the neighbourhood for nearly four hours, fired tear gas and stun grenades toward a group of reporters, and wounded four of them, according to AFP journalists and eyewitnesses. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on the operation. - Settler attack - In a separate incident on Tuesday, four Palestinians from the same family were injured after settlers stormed their home in the village of Talfit, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to a medical source and a family member. Youssef Abu Aisheh, 43, told AFP that settlers knocked on his door presenting themselves as soldiers, then entered his home and assaulted him, his wife, and their seven children. "They banged on the door violently and said they were soldiers, and when I opened the door I was shocked to find they were settlers wearing jeans, vests, and black masks, and carrying clubs," he said. As a result of the assault, his daughter suffered a broken leg, his wife a deep head wound, while he and another daughter were bruised, Abu Aisheh said, adding that the Israeli police did not respond to his request for help. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that it transported the wounded to a clinic in the nearby town of Qabalan. Violence in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, has escalated in parallel with the war in the Gaza Strip, sparked by Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. Attacks by settlers against West Bank Palestinians have become a daily occurrence in recent months, including physical assaults, crop theft and the vandalisation of houses, places of worship, and vehicles. Attacks against Israelis have also been recorded, including a Palestinian gunning down an Israeli settler near Ramallah last month. In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli army announced that it had foiled an attack in the northern West Bank. "Four Islamic Jihad terrorists who were planning to carry out a terror attack... were apprehended," the army said. The army added that it had arrested a wanted man in the town of Beit Rima near Ramallah on suspicion of arms trafficking. Excluding east Jerusalem, about three million Palestinians live in the West Bank along with more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements, considered illegal under international law. bur-if/lba/glp/jfx