Israeli raids in West Bank kill at least 16 Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad commander
Israel’s military operations in the West Bank continued for a second day on Thursday, leaving at least 16 Palestinians dead after raids on several towns and refugee camps. One of those killed, Mohammed Jaber, known as Abu Shujaa, was a leader of the Tulkarem Battalion, a militant group allied to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. His death was confirmed by the group.
Israel on Thursday pressed a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank, leaving at least 16 Palestinians dead in two days despite UN concerns it was “fuelling an already explosive situation”.
The “counter-terrorism” operation underway across the northern West Bank since early Wednesday has killed 16 Palestinians, the Israeli military said. The Palestinian health ministry gave the same figure, after both revised earlier tolls.
The raids on several towns and refugee camps were launched as violence raged on in the war-battered Gaza Strip, the besieged Palestinian territory separated from the West Bank by Israel.
In the West Bank, columns of Israeli armoured vehicles backed by troops and aircraft were sent in before soldiers encircled refugee camps in Tubas and Tulkarem, as well as Jenin, and exchanged fire with Palestinian militants.
The army said it killed seven militants on Thursday, including five militants in the Tulkarem refugee camp.
Two other militants were killed in Jenin on Thursday, the army said.
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