Palestinian ministry says Israeli troops kill 7 in West Bank raid

GAZA STRIP

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians during a raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where the military said it had launched a counterterrorism operation.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said nine more people had been wounded, including two who were in critical condition.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had launched a "counterterrorism operation in Jenin and they were fighting with armed men", without providing further details.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that among those killed was a surgeon, Usaeed Jabareen, from the Jenin government hospital.

A school teacher and a student were also killed, Wafa reported, quoting hospital director Wissam Bakr.

Following the raid, all schools in Jenin and in the adjacent refugee camp had been evacuated, Wafa said.

Jenin has been a stronghold of Palestinian militant groups and the Israeli army regularly carries out raids in the city and at the camp.

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence for more than a year, but particularly since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7.

At least 512 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since the Gaza war broke out, according to Palestinian officials.

At least 12 Israelis have also been killed in attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Gaza Strip has been engulfed in more than seven months of war since Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive since then has killed at least 35,562 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.