An Israeli army force raided on Saturday the town of Balaa, near Tulkarm in the northern occupied West Bank, provoking clashes with residents, witnesses said.

Soldiers set up checkpoints in the city center and near schools, provoking the clashes, they said.

The soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and teargas canisters at the Palestinian protesters, injuring one in the eye with a rubber bullet. He was moved to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

The army has been conducting daily raids of Tulkarm area towns and villages since a Palestinian from the town of Shweikeh, also in the Tulkarm district, allegedly killed two Israeli settlers last Sunday. The alleged attacker remains at large as the army is conducting massive manhunt for him.