Dozens of people were injured in clashes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday as Israel's army raided a currency exchange it claimed was linked to Hamas.
At least 58 people were injured during the raid on the West Bank's administrative capital Ramallah, said rescuers from the Palestinian Red Crescent. They said a 12-year-old boy shot in the back was among the wounded.
Eight people were injured by live bullets and 14 by rubber-coated bullets, the ambulance workers said. The rest were hurt by shrapnel and Israeli tear gas.
The Israeli military said it staged a raid on "a currency exchange business that transfers terror funds to Hamas terrorists" in launching attacks on Israel. It did not provide evidence of such links.
The army said hundreds of thousands of shekels "identified as terror funds" had been confiscated and five people "suspected of terrorist activity" arrested for questioning. At current rates, 100,000 shekels are worth about $30,000.
The Palestinian Authority is headquartered in Ramallah. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office described the raid as a "theft of funds" in which property was destroyed, news agency Wafa reported. It called on the US to put pressure on Israel to call off attacks on the West Bank.
"The Israeli government is pushing the situation towards a major explosion aimed at forcing Palestinians from their land and displacing them," it said. "The Palestinian people will neither leave nor relinquish their land and holy sites."
Footage shot near a major roundabout in Ramallah showed at least five armoured vehicles and a dozen troops storming the streets. Wafa reported that Israeli snipers positioned themselves on Ramallah's rooftops as soldiers staged the raids.
Surveillance footage showed terrified Palestinians seeking shelter in shops. Groups of mostly young men were filmed throwing stones at Israeli forces in response to the attack.
Israeli troops regularly use force in the occupied West Bank, in what are typically described as counter-terrorism operations. Attacks by Israeli settlers have also increased though are rarely punished by the authorities.
