Palestinian reports said on Thursday that three people have been killed in an Israeli military operation near the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.
Palestinian media reported that one of them was a leading member of the armed wing of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in Tulkarem. Two other men were killed in a drone attack.
The Israeli military said it had been involved in an anti-terrorism operation in the region. “A drone attacked a cell of armed terrorists from the air who fired at our soldiers,” the military said. The operation is still ongoing.
A refugee neighbourhood near Tulkarem is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians in the West Bank. The already tense situation in the West Bank has intensified significantly since militants from Hamas and other groups massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, sparking the start of the Gaza war.
Since then, more than 730 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, armed confrontations and extremist attacks in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry in Ramallah.
