Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air attack in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, a drone struck a group of five young men near a mosque in Tubas early on Wednesday, and an ambulance team transported the bodies to a nearby government hospital.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), an aircraft attacked a “terrorist cell” laden with explosives during a counter-terrorism operation in Tubas and the adjoining village of Tamun.
Later, an Israeli soldier was killed in what the IDF said was a ramming attack involving a fuel tanker elsewhere in the West Bank.
The IDF stated that “a terrorist driving a Palestinian truck” near the Jewish settlement of Givat Assaf “accelerated towards forces conducting operational activity.”
According to the report, soldiers and an armed civilian “neutralized” the motorist at the scene.
Israeli media released video footage of a tanker driving off a busy road at high speeds before colliding with a bus stop. They also recognized the driver as a Palestinian male from Rafat.
Rafat’s council leader told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that he knew the driver and did not believe it was an attack, but rather that he had lost control of the truck.
There has been an increase in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces have expanded their nearly daily search and arrest raids, killing more than 690 Palestinians.
Israel says it is attempting to halt Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Israel, which have killed at least 33 Israelis, according to Israeli officials.
The IDF stated in a statement that its troops, along with Shin Bet internal security agency and Israel Prison Service agents, had been operating since Wednesday night to “thwart terror” in Tubas and Tamun.
In addition to the air strike, they collected weapons, demolished an explosive-rigged truck, and shot numerous armed fighters during exchanges of fire, according to the report.
Earlier, an Israeli military officer stated that Tubas was under curfew and that the city’s government hospital was surrounded, with people only permitted to leave and enter after being vetted by Israeli troops.
According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces were conducting massive raids on the city’s outskirts and in numerous neighborhoods.
It also stated that another Israeli military assault was taking place in the city of Tulkarm and its refugee camps for the second day.
The Palestinian health ministry announced on Tuesday that Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man and a woman in Tulkarm.
The IDF has yet to respond to that story, but a statement issued on Wednesday stated that Israeli soldiers “eliminated an armed terrorist and struck several others” during a counter-terrorism operation in the Tulkarm area.
The raids come only days after Israel carried out its largest operation in the West Bank since October.
The Palestinian health ministry reported that at least 36 Palestinians were murdered during the nine-day operation in the Tubas, Tulkarm, and Jenin districts. The majority of the fatalities were claimed by armed groups, though the ministry stated that minors were also killed.
During the combat in Jenin, an Israeli soldier was killed.
In a related development on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said Israel needed to do more to ensure that situations like the death of an American-Turkish activist during a protest in the West Bank last week “never happen again.”
On Tuesday, the IDF stated it was “highly likely” Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire, which was not aimed at her.”
Mr. Biden stated that the US was confident in the outcome of the Israeli probe, but he called the killing “totally unacceptable” and urged complete accountability.
An Israeli government spokeswoman emphasized that the IDF’s rules of engagement were “extremely clear in terms of preventing any harm to civilians.”
