Premier Salam Fayyad was away touring the southern West Bank, near Hebron, at the time.
The exchange of gunfire in the West Bank city lasted around a minute, several witnesses confirmed, and the sound of ambulances could be heard shortly thereafter.
Fighting had subsided by the time special forces arrived, a few minutes after the incident began. The police searched and frisked people, apparently looking for weapons.
A security official told Ma’an that a police officer guarding the building accidentally discharged his weapon and denied there had been an exchange of fire.
The Palestinian Authority has launched a security crackdown in the West Bank in recent weeks, arresting scores of suspects in a security sweep that has prompted some anger at President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-led government.