Israel forces shoot Palestinian journalist in head in rare Ramallah raid

Israeli forces shot a Palestinian journalist in the head after launching a rare raid into the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah late on Wednesday.

Momen Sumreen, 22, who was covering the Israeli raid, was hit by a rubber bullet, his family told AFP.

His uncle Mohammed Sumreen, also a journalist, said they had been among a group of reporters watching events unfold from a nearby rooftop.

"Throughout the coverage, the soldiers were shining laser lights on us, targeting us with gas bombs and firing live bullets in our direction," he said.

"Momen wanted to change his position, he stood up and was directly hit by a bullet in the area under the ear," he said, noting that Sumreen was wearing a jacket marked "press" when he came under fire.

The Israeli army said the incident was "under review".

"Momen was injured while doing his work, covering the raid in lower Ramallah with other colleagues, when one of them called me and said that he was injured, so the whole family rushed to the hospital," Sumreen's brother Mohammad told The New Arab.

"The bullet scratched the back of his head and did a little damage to the skull, but fortunately didn't straightly hit him, and his condition is now stable."

A second media worker, Rabih Al-Munir, was wounded after being shot in the abdomen with rubber-coated metal rounds, during the raid, according to the Palestinian Press Syndicate.

The raid saw 35 people injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

British newspaper The Guardian cited Palestinian officials as saying three people had been taken to hospital after being shot.

Palestinians threw stones at army vehicles during the Israeli operation.

The incident came just over a year after celebrated Palestinian American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces as she covered a military raid on the Jenin refugee camp.

She, like Sumreen, had been wearing a press vest when she was shot. Her killing caused outrage around the world.

During the Israeli forces' recent raid on Ramallah, they blew up the home of Islam Al-Faroukh.

Israel alleges Al-Faroukh, 26, killed two people and injured 20 others by detonating explosives at two Jerusalem bus stops in November.

Dozens of Israeli military vehicles accompanied by a bulldozer stormed Ramallah from at least three entrances en route to demolish the Al-Faroukh family home, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Israel regularly orders and carries out home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank – though it rarely commits demolitions or raids in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority.

The home demolitions have been slammed by the UN and rights groups as a form of collective punishment.

Separately on Friday, Mahdi Biadsa, 29, was killed by Israel's military near a checkpoint to the west of Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.

AFP and Reuters contributed to this report.