RAMALLAH, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- In a rare incident on Monday, an Israeli army force stormed the West Bank city of Ramallah, the unofficial capital of the Palestinian Authority.

It was part of Israeli search for Palestinians who attacked a group of Israelis near the West Bank settlement of Ofra and wounded seven of them.

Palestinians threw stones at the soldiers who responded with tear gas, Palestinian medical sources said, adding that 32 people were wounded, two by live bullets and the rest by rubber bullets and tear gas.

During the incursion, the Israeli army surrounded several residential neighborhoods in the city.

The army also raided the headquarters of the official Palestinian news agency WAFA and prevented staff from entering or leaving.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, condemned the Israeli incursion.

She told Xinhua that the absence of international accountability encourages the Israelis to expand their violations against the Palestinians.

The Israeli army violated all bilateral agreements by storming Ramallah in broad daylight, shooting, terrorizing citizens, besieging homes and breaking into an official institution.

The Palestinian official demanded that the international community shoulder its responsibility and put an end to "Israel's violations."

Earlier in the day, Israeli forces surrounded the headquarters of the official WAFA agency and detained its crew in one room before confiscating the agency's surveillance cameras.

Khuloud Assaf, the agency's editor-in-chief, told Xinhua that the storming of the agency's headquarters was "an Israeli crime against the Palestinian media."

Assaf said Israeli forces detained more than a dozen journalists inside the agency's headquarters, prevented them from leaving the agency's editorial lounge and fired gas and sound bombs inside the offices.

Meanwhile, Nasser Abu Baker, head of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate, condemned the incident, saying it was "a new crime and a flagrant violation" against the Palestinian media and its workers.

Abu Baker said the syndicate will follow up on the serious attack with the International Federation of Journalists, the Union of Arab Journalists and all international bodies and organizations.

The clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli army erupted last night following a shooting attack that resulted in the injury of six Israelis in Ramallah.

Since the incident, the Israeli army has closed the entrance to the northern city of al-Bireh, Etara and Ain Sinya, and tightened security along the Nablus-Ramallah road.

The Israeli army announced that at least six Israelis were injured in a Palestinian drive-by shooting attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday night.

Video footage released by Ofra's security personnel showed a white car slowing down near a bus stop where a man sitting near the driver pulls out a gun and shoots at people waiting at the bus stop.

"Shots were fired from a passing Palestinian vehicle toward Israeli civilians who were standing at the bus station," an Israeli military spokesperson said.

The incident was the latest in a spate of Palestinian attacks in the form of knife stabbing, shooting, car-ramming and others, usually targeting Israeli soldiers, police officers and settlers. Enditem

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