Five Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on West Bank

Israeli strikes Wednesday killed five Palestinians in an area of the occupied West Bank targeted in a major army operation last month, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces were engaged in a “counter-terrorism operation” in the Tubas area that included exchanges of fire and an air strike hitting five militants who “posed a threat” to troops.

A witness told AFP that Israeli forces were “storming the city of Tubas and the town of Tamun” nearby early on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said five people were killed “as a result of Israeli air strikes” in Tubas, with spokesman Ahmed Jibril telling AFP the drone fire hit near a mosque around dawn.

The military said an Israeli aircraft “struck and eliminated a terrorist cell consisting of five terrorists armed with explosives who posed a threat to the forces”.

It added that during the raid, several suspects were apprehended and a vehicle rigged with explosives was dismantled.

At the end of August, Israel launched a large-scale “counter-terrorism” offensive that left widespread destruction across the northern West Bank, including in the Tubas area.

An Israeli air strike last week in Tubas also killed five people, Palestinian medics said at the time, with the military announcing it had targeted “armed terrorists” including a local militant leader.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has ramped up deadly raids in the territory since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 662 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military and settlers since October 7.

At least 24 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the territory during the same period, according to Israeli officials.