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RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- A group of unidentified armed Palestinians allegedly carried out a drive-by shooting on Wednesday at dawn on an Israeli military checkpoint installed at the entrance of the village of Nabi Saleh in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah.

According to local witnesses, Israeli forces began to open fire at the vehicle, which quickly drove away from the scene. Israeli authorities have not declared any injuries among Israeli forces from the incident.

Israeli forces deployed a large number of soldiers to the area and installed a flying checkpoint on many streets and entrances of nearby villages, initiating an army search campaign for the alleged shooters, witnesses told Ma'an.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that she had not receive any reports on the alleged incident.

Palestinian residents of Nabi Saleh have been engaged in nonviolent resistance against the Israeli occupation for the past eight years, as Israeli forces have at the same time cracked down on the village with routine military raids, detentions, and the targeting of specific activists.

Israeli forces also set up a military checkpoint at the main entrance of the village, next to a permanent Israeli military watchtower. The military erected a large iron gate which would close any traffic in and out of the village at certain times each day, or during heightened Israeli army activities in the area. However, the gate was removed by the Israeli army in June.

According to Ma’an Development Center, which is not connected to Ma’an News Agency, village residents suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and “severe psychological insecurities” as a result of Israeli activities in the village.

While Israeli leaders often point to Palestinian “incitement” as the cause of such attacks, and often attempt to connect them to the so-called “war on terror,” Palestinians have instead cited the daily frustrations and routine Israeli military violence imposed by Israel's nearly half-century occupation of the Palestinian territory as main drivers for such incidents.