2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on West Bank: Ministry
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories
Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, setting off a gunbattle in which a Palestinian teenager was killed and several others were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
At least two Palestinians were killed on Thursday during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian authorities said, after a series of deadly attacks in the Jewish state.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old and a 23-year-old, both of them males, were killed "by the Israeli occupation forces during its incursion into Jenin", and that 15 other people were wounded.
The Israeli military said its troops came under fire from Palestinians as they attempted "to apprehend terrorist suspects" in Jenin, adding that one of its soldiers had been wounded during the operation.
The clashes came amid heightened tensions in the run-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, following attacks in Israel in which 11 Israelis were killed in the past two weeks.
Early on Thursday, far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir paid a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.
"All night Hamas threatened me and said that I was in the line of fire and told me not to come here. I say to the Hamas spokesman shut up," he said, referring to the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the Six-Day War of 1967.
It has since built a string of settlements across the territory that are considered illegal under international law but are home to some 475,000 Israelis.
