Israeli forces carried out a rare daytime raid on Tuesday in the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded, according to local medics, as people throwing stones scattered after gunfire and tear gas.
Israel said it targeted money exchanges linked to Hamas. But the raid was likely to further undermine the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority as it seeks to capitalize on the recent decision by some major Western countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian Authority is led by rivals of Hamas. It cooperates with Israel on security matters and exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank. Many Palestinians view it as a corrupt and autocratic entity.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 58 people were wounded in the raid, eight of them by live fire and 14 by rubber-coated bullets. A few dozen people hurled rocks at a line of Israeli armored vehicles as they rolled into the city center. The military said it detained five people "suspected of terrorist activity."
Associated Press footage showed people running as tear gas canisters landed on busy streets and sidewalks, an Israeli soldier firing rifle shots into the air and people carrying a wounded youth to an ambulance.
Violence in the West Bank has surged during the war in Gaza, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has also been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Israeli forces routinely operate in Ramallah and other cities administered by the Palestinian Authority, but daytime raids into downtown are rare.
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Associated Press journalist Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.
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