Four Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed in a raid by the Israeli army near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, Palestinian officials said.
It was the latest bloodshed in a years-long spate of violence in the region.
The Israeli military confirmed that its troops were operating in the Jenin refugee camp, but gave no further details. The area is known as a stronghold of Palestinian militants, and Israel frequently conducts military attacks in the area.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified three of the dead as Youssef Shreem, 29, Nidal Khazim, 28, and Omar Awadin, 16. The identity of the fourth was not immediately known.
Amateur video taken by people in Jenin appeared to show a crowd of Palestinians surrounding a car people suspected was transporting covert Israeli troops. Another clip showed Israeli military vehicles towing the car.
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Palestinian officials announced that four people were killed in Israeli army raids in the West Bank on Thursday. (Fox News)
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Thursday’s deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the year to 83, as Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank in response to a spate of attacks last spring. 14 people were killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis in 2023.
According to a tally by the Associated Press, about half of the Palestinians killed that year were linked to militant groups. Israel says most of the dead were militants. But stone-throwing youth protesting the assaults, some in their early teens, and others not involved in confrontations, including three men over 60, were also killed.
The current round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank is one of the worst in years. It began a year ago after a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis that sparked near-night Israeli raids in the West Bank.
Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2022, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Palestinian attacks on Israelis killed 30 people at the same time.
Israel conquered the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians seek these areas for their future independent state.
Source : www.foxnews.com