IDF arrests PA gunman’s brother, revokes family’s work permits

The brother of a Palestinian security services officer who shot at a group of Israeli soldiers, wounding three, at a checkpoint outside Ramallah Monday, was arrested in the northern West Bank as part of a series of early-morning raids Tuesday, the army said.

In addition, Israeli soldiers revoked the work permits belonging to family members of the gunman, Muhammad Turkman, at the family’s home in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, the Israel Defense Forces said.

On Monday evening, Turkman approached the Focus checkpoint, near Ramallah, and opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle at the troops stationed there. One soldier was seriously wounded in the attack — his condition was later upgraded to “moderate” — while two others sustained light injuries from shrapnel, according to medical authorities.

In Turkman’s home village of Qabatiya, small-scale clashes broke out between local residents and Israeli forces during the early Tuesday morning raid to arrest the gunman’s brother, who was identified by official Palestinian Authority media as Muhannad Turkman, 23.

Photos of the scene, posted on social media, showed rocks and cinderblocks scattered along the road in the Palestinian village, as well as a fire raging in the middle of the street.

According to an army spokesperson, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the troops, although she said that type of clash was “not out of the ordinary.”

There were no serious injuries reported on either side.

#صور.. من المواجهات المندلعة بين الشبان وقوات الاحتلال في بلدة قباطية قضاء جنين. pic.twitter.com/xPrK6AcQhZ

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— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) November 1, 2016

A larger skirmish also broke out in the Deheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem, between local residents and a joint IDF-Border Police contingent on Monday night, with approximately 30 Palestinians throwing rocks and improvised explosive devices at the troops, the army said.

The Israeli force responded with non-lethal riot dispersal means, including flash-bang grenades, an IDF spokesperson said.

There, too, no serious injuries were reported.

In the West Bank village of Deir Ballut, east of Petah Tikva, IDF soldiers also arrested a Palestinian suspected of having defaced and damaged the security fence separating Israel from the West Bank, the army said.

During a raid in Talfit, southeast of Nablus, Israeli forces arrested three alleged members of the Hamas terror group, the IDF said.

Another five Palestinians — one from Dura, near Hebron, and four from Tubas, in the northeastern West Bank — were arrested for allegedly throwing rocks or taking part in violent protests, according to the army.