Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank have killed at least eight Palestinians in a 24-hour period, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday, as a fragile lull in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered its third day.
Violence in the West Bank has increased in the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking a devastating war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians and arrested hundreds in the West Bank. Jewish settlers in the West Bank have also stepped up attacks.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said five Palestinians had been killed in the militant stronghold of Jenin since Saturday morning, while three others were killed in separate parts of the West Bank. One of those killed in al-Bireh in the central West Bank was a teenager, the ministry said.
The Israeli military said troops entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli father and son at a West Bank car wash earlier this year. In its statement on Sunday, the army made no mention of clashes or Palestinian deaths, but said forces were still active in the area.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli snipers were stationed on rooftops and military bulldozers damaged roads and infrastructure. The reports could not immediately be independently verified.
In its bid to pursue militants, Israel clamped down on the West Bank immediately after the Hamas attack, closing border crossings and checkpoints between Palestinian cities.
The increased violence in the area follows more than a year of escalating raids and arrests in the West Bank and deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Before the Hamas attack, 2023 was already the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank in more than two decades.
Israel and Hamas briefly halted fire to allow more aid to enter Gaza and allow the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led government in Gaza, which makes no distinction between civilians and fighters. Large parts of the Gaza Strip have been razed to the ground and approximately 1.7 million Palestinians have fled their homes.
In last month’s surprise attack, Hamas and other Gaza militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took about 240 hostage. Several dozen soldiers have been killed since Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza shortly after the attack.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, during the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians are seeking these areas as part of their hoped-for independent state.
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