NABLUS: Dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, witnesses and Palestinian officials said, with the Red Crescent reporting at least seven people wounded in the raid.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military confirmed that its forces were conducting an operation in the northern West Bank city, without specifying its purpose.
The raid began at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT), residents said, with soldiers in armoured vehicles storming several neighbourhoods of Nablus’s old city, which has a population of around 30,000 people.
It came a day after Israeli forces carried out a relatively rare raid on Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, targeting a currency exchange in the city centre and leaving dozens of Palestinians wounded, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas told AFP that Wednesday’s “assault... is merely a show of force with no justification”.
One witness, who declined to give his name, reported that soldiers had expelled an elderly couple from their home.
Israeli troops “are storming and searching houses and shops inside the old city, while some houses have been turned into military posts”, said Ghassan Hamdan, head of the Palestinian Medical Relief organisation in Nablus.
AFP footage showed Israeli forces and military vehicles deployed on the streets, with some troops taking position on a rooftop.
Daghlas said the army had informed Palestinian authorities that the raid would last until 4:00 pm.
Local sources said clashes broke out at the eastern entrance to the old city, where young people threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas and live ammunition.
The Red Crescent said its teams treated five people wounded by rubber bullets, one person hit by live bullet shrapnel and another following “physical assault”.
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