Israeli army raids Palestinian NGO offices in West Bank

Israeli soldiers raided the offices of three Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Ramallah on Tuesday, local news outlets reported. The soldiers took over the office of the Women's Union, a Palestinian NGO coordination network, and the offices of the organization Addameer, advocating for Palestinian prisoners locked up in Israeli jails, and confiscated five computers from the offices. This is the first raid of its kind in Ramallah since the UN General Assembly voted in favor of the Palestinian authority's bid to have its status upgraded to a non-member observing state. "This comes in the context of the UN's decision," Allam Jarrar from the Palestinian NGO Network said, according to Ynet news website. "This is a message by the Israelis saying that when Palestinians make any decisions or form patriotic organization to seek for freedom, the occupation will use aggression to try and stop us," he added. In response to the incident, the Israeli Defense Forces released a statement saying that the targeted offices were associated with the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine, a small left-wing faction with an armed wing in Gaza. According to Palestinian sources, small-scale raids have taken place over the past week throughout villages in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers.