Seven people were killed in an Israeli drone attack and shooting by troops in the Tulkarem refugee camp, and one person was killed in the nearby Nur Shams camp, the Health Ministry said, following a bloody day of Israeli military raids that began at dawn on Tuesday.
The ministry added that two Palestinian women – identified as Khawla Ali Abdullah Abdo, 53, and Bara Khalid Hussein, 30 – and an 18-year-old, Fathi Saeed Salem Obaid, were among the seven people killed in the Israeli attacks on Tulkarem.
The official Wafa news agency reported that the teenager died after being shot in the chest and abdomen and the two women were reported killed in drone strikes.
The victim in the Nur Shams camp was identified as Mahmoud Muhammad Khaled Amar, who was shot by Israeli soldiers and later found dead on the ground in the camp’s Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Mosque neighbourhood, Wafa also reports.
Several people were also injured in Nur Shams following an Israeli drone strike, according to the news agency.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it killed one Palestinian in a “counterterrorism” operation in Tulkarem, while its forces arrested 18 other people and confiscated dozens of weapons.
The Israeli military confirmed later that an Israeli aircraft had carried out a strike on the Nur Shams refugee camp.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced in a statement that two of its members were killed in Tulkarem.
An improvised explosive device planted by Palestinian fighters and detonated during the Israeli raid on Tulkarem hit a vehicle in which the commander of Israel’s Menashe Brigade, Colonel Ayub Kayuf, was travelling, causing him injuries and requiring medical evacuation, the Israeli military added early on Wednesday.
Israeli military raids and more shootings of Palestinians were reported across the occupied West Bank late on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.
Raids by Israeli forces on Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank have increased in intensity and violence since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023 following the Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last week that 968 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank between January 2023 and November 2024.
Of those killed, 210 were Palestinian children, OCHA reported.
