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Scene. Published by Maan News
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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Israeli army imposed complete closure on Ramallah City in the central occupied West Bank, on Thursday afternoon, following a shooting attack carried out by a Palestinian near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ofra north of the city killing two Israeli soldiers and critically injuring another two.

The Israeli army reported that reinforcement is being deployed in the West Bank.

The army added, in a statement, that searches are being carried out at the entrances and exits of Ramallah City.

Israeli forces sealed off the Beit El checkpoint, the northern entrance of al-Bireh City and the Ein Siniya crossroads, holding dozens of Palestinian vehicles at the entrances of the city.

Meanwhile, Two Palestinian youths were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets, while dozens of others suffered severe tear-gas suffocation during clashes that erupted in the al-Balou and the industrial area of Ramallah City.

Israeli forces detained four Palestinians, including a female minor, during raids in search for the Palestinian suspect of the shooting attack.

Clashes also erupted at the Beit El checkpoint, between dozens of Palestinian youths and Israeli forces, during which Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets.

Israeli forces set up several flying checkpoint across the industrial area, after clashes erupted in the area.
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Israeli Army Seals Off Ramallah After Two Soldiers Killed in West Bank Attack
by Noa Landau for Haaretz

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Manhunt zeroes in on Ramallah

The Israel Defense Forces is focusing largely on Ramallah in its search for Thursday's assailants, who fled the scene. An abandoned vehicle has been located and the military is inspecting whether it was used by the shooters.

Also, the Shin Bet security service is using its field agents and technology to find the gunmen. Defense officials had no intelligence pointing to a planned attack – the latest shooting attack that the security forces failed to prevent.

"There was massive fire, bullet after bullet, but not in bursts," said one witness, adding that the shooting lasted several seconds.

The deaths extend a violent week that began with a shooting outside a West Bank settlement on Sunday, resulting in the death of a baby who was delivered prematurely after the attack. The violence continued with the killing of two Palestinians wanted in that and another attack on Israelis in the West Bank.

The IDF's West Bank Division is currently better staffed than usual, with 14 battalions in the West Bank alongside special units such as the Duvdevan unit, the Border Police's Arab-speaking undercover counterterror unit. Also deployed is the police's special anti-terror unit.

The IDF spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, said a man left a vehicle on Route 60, opened fire and fled.

Manelis said soldiers were checking the area in search of several assailants, and were setting up checkpoints. Also, the army has sealed off roads leading Ramallah.

One of the Israelis killed was 20-year-old Staff Sgt.Yovel Mor Yosef. He served in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade and is survived by his parents and three sisters.

The two wounded, a male soldier and a woman, were treated by emergency services and taken to hospitals in Jerusalem. The man suffered a gunshot wound to the head and is in severe condition, a hospital said. The woman's condition remains serious but has stabilized, doctors said, adding that her life was no longer in danger.