Ramallah, ALRAY - Israeli military forces (IMF) have stormed the Palestinian town of al-Bireh in central West Bank, firing tear gas and rubber bullets on the Palestinian residents, witnesses reported.

The Israeli soldiers in 30 military jeeps on Monday arrested at least one Palestinian man.

Tensions have been running high after an Israeli child shot and injured on Saturday night in the Israel settlement of Psagot located near al-Bireh.

Israeli police say the attack was probably carried out by a mentally unstable person.

Israeli settlers also attacked the al-Jalazun refugee camp north of Ramallah after the incident, throwing stones at residents and vandalizing their cars.

Israeli settlers, mostly armed, regularly attack Palestinian villages and farms and set fire to their mosques, olive groves and other properties in the West Bank under the so-called “price tag” policy. However, the IMF rarely detains the assailants.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.