Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes since Israel’s West Bank operation began.
Israeli forces have killed at least four Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority (PA) says.
Police special forces fought a gun battle on Tuesday with armed Palestinians barricaded in a house in Jenin, killing two and wounding another man, the Israeli military said in a statement.
In another incident on Tuesday, a man who opened fire on Israeli soldiers was killed, it said.
The PA said soldiers firing from a checkpoint also killed a 60-year-old woman. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The previous evening, a Palestinian man was killed when his motorcycle was hit by an Israeli army vehicle, the PA said.
Another man who was wanted over previous incidents was killed by Palestinian security forces, the PA said in a separate statement.
It said the man was accused of opening fire on the headquarters of the security forces in Jenin.
The latest incidents bring the number of Palestinians killed since January when Israeli forces launched a major operation involving thousands of soldiers in cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank to more than 30 people.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes since the operation began at the start of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli troops have swept through refugee camps in Jenin and nearby cities, demolishing houses and infrastructure, including roads and water pipes.
Countries including France and Germany and international groups including the United Nations have expressed alarm at the scale of Israel’s operation in the West Bank and called for restraint.
Israel has repeatedly said the operation is aimed at hitting armed groups, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which have created strongholds in the crowded refugee camps built to house Palestinians displaced when Israel was created and their descendants.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Tuesday that its troops arrested 35 people in the West Bank overnight and added that weapons were confiscated during the operations.
It said one detained suspect led soldiers to an area where he had planted an explosive device, without specifying the location, and said the device has been neutralised.
In the southern West Bank, Israeli settlers stormed the village of Haribat al-Nabi in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, attacking residents and their property, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Settlers armed with clubs and batons attacked the village under the protection of the Israeli army. Mutab Rashid, a resident, was beaten, while Ali Sabah Rashid and his wife were sprayed with pepper gas, Wafa reported. Israeli soldiers arrested another resident identified by Wafa as Ahmad Abdul Mohsen Rashid.
Leave a comment