Israeli troops demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of the May killing of a soldier on Saturday, completing a night-long incursion into the Palestinian-controlled city of Ramallah. The raid on the West Bank city where Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has his headquarters comes as Israeli forces search for the perpetrator of a Thursday shooting that killed two Israeli soldiers.
The incursion late Friday triggered clashes with angry residents following a week of rising tensions. Both army and border police units took part in the operation, including members of the commando unit in which the soldier was serving when he was killed by a slab hurled from a building during an army raid.
Several hundred soldiers entered the city's Al-Amari refugee camp late Friday, leaving on Saturday morning, AFP journalists reported. "During the operation, dozens of Palestinians instigated a number of violent riots. The rioters hurled rocks towards the forces, who responded with riot dispersal means," the army said.