Six Palestinians and one Israeli police officer were killed as fighting flares again in the occupied West Bank.
At least six Palestinians are reported to have been killed by an Israeli drone raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
The attack on the city, host to a large refugee camp, came amid multiple Israeli raids across the West Bank overnight, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Sunday. Israeli officials noted that a police officer was also killed during the operations.
Witnesses said human remains were scattered at the site of the drone attack in Jenin.
“We have seen some pretty gruesome pictures of a number of bodies lying on the floor. People say those targeted were civilians,” said media’s Laura Khan, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem.
The strike targeted a gathering of citizens in Jenin, the Health Ministry said. Four brothers were reportedly among the dead.
Israel asserted that its aircraft had fired on “Palestinian militants who had attacked troops”.
Witnesses said the attack took place as Israeli forces were withdrawing.
“We know that there was at least one IED [improvised explosive device] that exploded and destroyed an Israeli army vehicle,” she said, adding that there was “fierce resistance” from fighters in the camp.
A border police officer was killed and at least four Israeli soldiers were wounded when their vehicle was hit by the IED blast, Israel said.
A helicopter helped rescue them with covering fire, the military said, adding that an aircraft fired at a “terrorist squad that hurled explosives and endangered our forces, a number of terrorists were killed”.
“This is just part of the nightly raids that we’re witnessing in the occupied West Bank,” said Khan.
The Jenin Brigades, an armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack on the Israeli forces.
“We know, at least 5,600 people have been arrested, more than 3,000 injured and with this latest death toll, we’re looking at around 332 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7,” Khan said.
Nightly raids by the Israeli army have been taking place for almost two years, but they have intensified following the attack by Hamas on October 7, which killed about 1,140 people in Israel.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has since killed at least 22,722 Palestinians and injured more than 58,000 people.
The overnight raids on Jenin took place amid US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the region. He is due to visit some Arab states, as well as Israel and the occupied West Bank.
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