RAMALLAH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Several Palestinians were injured on Tuesday during clashes involving Palestinians, Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources.
Palestinian security and local sources told Xinhua that Israeli forces raided the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, deploying snipers around its entrances and preventing people from entering or leaving.
The forces, accompanied by two cranes, also raided the city of al-Bireh, the al-Tira neighborhood and the town of Sarda, north of Ramallah, the sources said. They patrolled the streets, firing live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters, and targeted journalists in the area.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a brief statement that two people were injured by live ammunition during what it described as an Israeli military operation in Ramallah and al-Bireh, one of them seriously.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews treated two people, and two journalists were also injured.
Later, Israeli forces raided the headquarters of Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner support and human rights association, and confiscated equipment and files, according to local and security sources.
The Israeli army had not immediately commented on the incidents.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers stepped up attacks on Palestinians and their property in several parts of the West Bank.
Salah al-Khawaja, director of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Commission against the Wall and Settlements' office in the central West Bank, said groups of settlers were receiving training in raiding villages and towns, setting fire to property and assaulting residents with knives and firearms.
Al-Khawaja said approximately 300,000 armed settlers live in the West Bank, increasing the risks facing Palestinians, particularly farmers during the olive harvest season.
He added that the attacks aim to seize land, water resources and grazing areas, impose further restrictions on Palestinian communities, and advance plans to displace residents and expand settlement control.
More than half a million Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967, alongside about 3.4 million Palestinians. ■
