Israeli soldiers kill four Palestinians in West Bank

Thursday’s raid – the latest since Israel intensified such operations in the West Bank last year – was carried out by undercover Israeli forces “who broke into downtown Jenin”, the Palestinian state news agency Wafa quoted the Ministry of Health as saying.

The ministry identified three of the dead as Youssef Shreem, 29; Nidal Khazim, 28; and Omar Awadin, 16. The identity of the fourth person was not immediately known.

The Israeli army said its security forces operated “in the Jenin refugee camp”.

Jenin is among the areas in the northern West Bank where Israel has intensified raids over the past year in an attempt to crack down on growing armed Palestinian resistance.

The raid came a day after the Palestinian Authority had said that it would participate in a security meeting with Israel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh on March 19. The meeting will also include representatives from Egypt, Jordan and the United States.

Thursday’s deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the year to 83 as Israel has stepped up arrest raids in response to a series of attacks last spring.

Last week, Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in a raid in Jenin, less than 48 hours after six others were killed in another raid in the city. In January, Israeli soldiers killed nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, during a large-scale raid on the Jenin refugee camp.

More than 170 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids in 2022, many of them civilians.