4 wounded in shooting incident
Armed Palestinians open fire at IDF troops in southern Ramallah in West Bank; soldier seriously injured, another moderately wounded, and 2 lightly injured
One soldier was seriously injured, another moderately wounded and a third soldier and a border policeman were lightly injured in the incident.
The wounded were treated at the site of the shooting
and three of them were evacuated to the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem.
The families of those involved in the incident have been notified.
An IDF routine operation
At around 2 a.m. IDF combat engineering troops and policemen left their jeeps in the Aa-Amari refugee camp in their search for stolen vehicles in the Ramallah area.
Border Police were carrying out routine operations, with IDF soldiers providing cover, when armed Palestinians opened fire at the troops from an alleyway as they were approaching one of the houses in the camp.
The forces returned fire and later scoured the area in search of the assailants.
Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, claimed responsibility for the shooting. Notably, the al-Amari refugee camp is known as the stronghold of the Fatah movement.
PA: Incident may have been criminally motivated
Security sources in the Palestinian Authority told Ynet the Ramallah incident Sunday may have been criminally motivated.
They said Palestinian security forces have been taking action against car thieves and in recent months hundreds of vehicles were confiscated, particularly in the Ramallah area, and sometimes
through direct confrontations with thieves.
Despite this, a member of the Palestinian security force told Ynet all leads will be pursued, and if findings show the shooting was nationalistically motivated, the authority would take the strongest action against the perpetrators.
“We shall not allow anyone to destroy the efforts we are making with the organizations,” the source said, adding, however that Israel should coordinate its operations with Palestinian security forces.
“Coordination between the parties has increased recently," he said. "Israel recognizes and understands our determination to fight these incidences, whether they are nationalistically or criminally motivated, and we regret that Israel has ignored us.”
The source added that the entry of IDF soldiers into Ramallah would not constitute a reason not to thoroughly investigate the incident in an attempt to find the perpetrators.
A number of West Bank incidents
This was not the first incident to have occurred in the Ramallah area in the West Bank.
A Palestinian man was moderately wounded
Sunday morning by Border Police fire after attempting to steal a weapon from an IDF soldier at the 300 checkpoint south of Jerusalem.
The incident occurred during a police hunt in pursuit of a group of Palestinians who had tried to enter Israel illegally.
No injuries or damage were reported.
In two further incidents, Palestinians opened fire towards IDF troops in Nablus, which ended without casualties.
What about the 'calm'?
The incidents come just two days after Palestinian factions reached an agreement in Cairo to adhere to an “open-ended period of calm” with Israel.
Notably, faction representatives had demanded to limit the period of calm to several weeks or months.
The factions refused to call the agreement a Hudna (cease-fire) but rather an open-ended calm, “as long as Israel stands by its commitments.“
They said this is a compromise agreement between those who called for a long-term cease-fire to those who sought an open-ended calm.
However, two days ago, a spokesman for the Salah Al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the the Popular Resistance Committees operating in the Gaza Strip, announced the organization would continue its terror activities despite the agreements reached.
“Residents of Sderot should once again prepare their shelters,” organization spokesman Abu Abir told Ynet in an interview.
“We were not in Cairo, we don’t know what went on there and are not committed to its agreement. Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) ignored us even though we had met with him," he said.
"The country hosting the event also ignored us even though we had met three times with the Egyptian security delegations who prepared the dialog."
Therefore, he said, his organization is not bound by the agreement.
