Ramallah/Tel Aviv, Aug. 22, (dpa/GNA) – Three people have been killed in an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, the Health Ministry in Ramallah said on Thursday.
The three men were killed in an Israeli military drone attack on a house in the northern city of Tulkarem, health officials said.
According to local reports, at least one of the dead was a member of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an airborne device was used in an “anti-terrorist operation” in the West Bank. It often uses drones in raids on the territory.
Palestinian media reported that roads and buildings in the area were destroyed during the operation, which started on Wednesday night.
According to the IDF, soldiers searched under roads for explosives. Armed groups in the West Bank often hide explosives on and under roads to attack Israeli forces during their raids.
Tulkarem is located on the border of the West Bank to Israel and is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians.
The situation in the West Bank has deteriorated significantly since the beginning of the war in Gaza, which followed the October 7 attacks.
Since then, 613 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks, according to the Health Ministry.
Violence from Israeli settlers against Palestinians has also increased.
Four Israeli settlers suspected of deadly raid arrested
Israeli security forces arrested four suspects in connection with a deadly attack by militant Israeli settlers on a village in the West Bank.
A joint statement from Israeli police and the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet said the attack on the Palestinian village of Jit was a “serious terrorist incident.” One of the suspects is a minor, the statement said.
The incident last Thursday saw one 23-year-old Palestinian man killed and another resident injured after dozens of masked settlers stormed the village, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The four settlers arrested during the night are currently being interrogated by Shin Bet, Israeli media reported.
Israeli authorities also stated that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
Eleven killed in Israeli attack on Gaza residence
An Israeli attack on a residential building in northern Gaza has killed 11 people, with children among the dead, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Thursday.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the overnight attack in the city of Beit Lahia was aimed at a terrorist target and that the military was not yet aware of any other casualties.
The Israeli military said fighting was continuing in other parts of the Palestinian territory. In the southern city of Rafah, it said more than 50 militants had been killed on Wednesday.
The accounts by both sides could not be independently verified.
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history. More than 1,200 were killed in attacks by Hamas militants and other Palestinian extremist groups on October 7.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s retaliatory military campaign, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. GNA