BIRZEIT: The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli troops shot and wounded five people on Tuesday at a university in the occupied West Bank, while the military said its forces fired to break up a violent confrontation.

Military vehicles entered the campus of Birzeit University late in the morning, according to several witnesses who spoke and whose accounts were confirmed by the institution’s president Talal Shahwan.

Videos posted to social media showed the intervention, while journalists saw several military vehicles leave the campus, escorted by Israeli soldiers on foot.

The Israeli military said it intervened to disperse an “anticipated gathering in support of terror” that was about to take place at the university, according to “intelligence indications” it received.

The military said that a “violent confrontation broke out… during which rocks were hurled from rooftops in the area toward the forces”.

“The forces responded with riot dispersal means and precise fire toward the main violent individuals,” the military added.

The Red Crescent said 11 people were wounded in total, including five from live ammunition, four through gas inhalation, and two as a result of falls.

The university’s communications department said that students had thrown stones at the troops, adding that all of the wounded were students.

A journalist saw ambulances take away several people.

“Unfortunately, the university has been a recurring target, but this time the brutality crossed all limits,” Shahwan said in a news conference.

Israeli forces had previously entered the campus several times.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2026