Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians believed to be armed in a raid on a West Bank refugee camp on Monday, Israeli security officials said.
The raid in the city of Jericho was carried out ostensibly in response to an unsuccessful attack on the Israelis, which could further exacerbate tensions in the region.
However, the Palestinian Ministry of Health did not immediately confirm the death, saying only that three were injured, one of them in critical condition.
The violence comes against the backdrop of one of the deadliest periods of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent years and in the first weeks of a new Israeli government, the most right-wing ever, that has promised to take a hard line on the Palestinians.
The Israeli military said they were working in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp to apprehend suspects in last month’s failed shooting at a West Bank restaurant where the attackers were allegedly thwarted by a weapon malfunction.
The attackers then fled the scene, the military said, adding that they were members of the Hamas armed group that governs the Gaza Strip and has elements in the West Bank.
The military said they were looking for the armed group behind the shooting on Monday, who they said had locked themselves in a house in the refugee camp.
During the search, the military clashed with militants, and a shootout ensued. The military said several of the militants killed were involved in the attempted attack on the restaurant.
Israeli security officials said two of the five killed were alleged Hamas members involved in the attempted attack. Three others were alleged to have been militants who exchanged fire with soldiers during the raid.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the raid with the media.
Hamas said it mourned the deaths of members of its armed wing, without specifying how many died. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the violence will be met with a response.
“Our people and their resistance will not hesitate to respond to this crime,” he said.
The raid comes days after an earlier incursion into the Aqabat Jabr camp, which is near the Palestinian city of Jericho, a desert oasis in the West Bank region that rarely sees such unrest, where troops also searched for suspects.
After shelling a nearby settlement, the Israeli military blocked access to several roads into Jericho – a closure that placed the city under a semi-blockade, disrupted businesses and created bottlenecks at checkpoints that even affected Palestinian security forces, footage shows. .
Monday’s violence comes days after an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp killed 10 Palestinians, mostly militants, as well as a 61-year-old woman.
The next day, Palestinian shelling near a synagogue in East Jerusalem killed seven people, including a 14-year-old teenager.
The Israeli army has stepped up near-night raids in the occupied West Bank following a series of deadly Palestinian attacks inside Israel last spring.
In the past year of escalating raids, Jericho has been left as something of a sleepy desert town that has escaped much of the violence.
The Palestinian Authority, in retaliation for last week’s raid on the Jenin refugee camp, announced the end of security coordination with Israel.
About 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem last year, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, making this the deadliest year in those areas since 2004.
Since the beginning of this year, 41 Palestinians have been killed in these territories. In 2022, about 30 people were killed by Palestinians in Israel.
The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But also young people who threw stones, protested against the intrusions, and others who did not participate in the clashes were also killed.
Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians are looking for these territories for their long-awaited independent state.
