Israeli forces kill not less than 8 Palestinians in surging West Financial institution violence, well being officers say

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces working within the occupied West Financial institution killed not less than eight Palestinians in a 24-hour interval, Palestinian well being officers mentioned Sunday, as a fragile pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas within the Gaza Strip entered its third day.

Violence in the West Bank has surged within the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, setting off a devastating battle within the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians and arrested lots of within the West Financial institution. Jewish West Financial institution settlers have additionally stepped up assaults.

The Palestinian Well being Ministry mentioned that 5 Palestinians had been killed within the militant stronghold Jenin, whereas three others had been killed in separate areas of the West Financial institution since Saturday morning. A kind of killed, in al-Bireh within the central West Financial institution, was an adolescent, the ministry mentioned.

The Israeli army mentioned forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli father and son at a West Financial institution automobile wash earlier within the yr. In its assertion Sunday, the army made no point out of clashes, nor of the Palestinian deaths, however mentioned forces had been nonetheless working within the space.

The official Palestinian information company Wafa mentioned Israeli snipers had been positioned on roofs and that army bulldozers had been damaging roads and infrastructure. The stories couldn’t instantly be independently verified.

In its bid to pursue militants, Israel clamped down on the West Bank instantly after the Hamas assault, closing crossings and checkpoints between Palestinian cities.

The intensified violence within the territory follows greater than a yr of escalating raids and arrests within the West Financial institution and lethal Palestinian assaults on Israelis. Earlier than the Hamas assault, 2023 already was the deadliest yr for Palestinians within the West Financial institution in over twenty years.

Israel and Hamas have briefly halted fire to permit for extra assist to enter Gaza and allow a hostage launch in trade for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The Israeli offensive has killed greater than 13,300 Palestinians, in accordance with the Health Ministry within the Hamas-run Gaza authorities, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. Huge swaths of the Gaza Strip have been flattened and a few 1.7 million Palestinians have fled their properties.

In final month’s shock assault, Hamas and different Gaza militants killed some 1,200 individuals in Israel and took about 240 hostage. A number of dozen troopers have been killed since Israel started its floor invasion into Gaza shortly after the assault.

Israel captured the West Financial institution, together with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, within the 1967 Mideast battle. The Palestinians search these territories as a part of their hoped-for unbiased state.

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Related Press author Samy Magdy contributed to this report from Cairo.