Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in raid near Nablus

The three were killed early Monday morning during a blockade of the Balata refugee camp.

Three Palestinians have been killed in a raid by Israeli forces on the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The incident occurred around 01:00 local time (Sunday 22:00 GMT) on Monday after Israeli forces blocked the camp’s entrances with bulldozers, preventing ambulances and journalists from entering, residents told Al Jazeera.

The raid was one of the largest operations in years, they said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the three men killed as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun, 32, Fathi Abu Rizk, 30, and Abdullah Abu Hamdan, 24.

There was no immediate confirmation of the fatalities by the Israeli army.

Israel has carried out a series of raids in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year and raided Balata earlier this month, where it killed two Palestinians.

On that occasion, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement said the two killed men were members of its armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Monday’s raid came after a car ram attack near Nablus on Sunday that left an Israeli soldier injured.