Jewish settlers torched 20 cars during an attack on Palestinian property on the outskirts of Ramallah on Monday, residents said, in one of their boldest raids yet in the area that serves as the Palestinians' seat of government in the West Bank.
Around a dozen attackers, masked and carrying petrol bombs, targeted the Al-Bireh area, which adjoins Ramallah, at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), torching the cars in a matter of minutes, they said.
"When we came down to try to extinguish the fire, they started shooting at us," resident Ihab al-Zaben claimed.
The Israel Police said on Monday that it had opened an investigation into reports of vehicle arsons that occurred overnight in the city of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah.
Police said forces were at the scene and had begun gathering evidence.