By Yolande Knell, JERUSALEM Israel
At least nine Palestinians have been killed in a major operation by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.
Israeli security forces said they had begun "a counterterrorism operation” in Jenin and Tulkarm overnight and that they had so far killed “five armed terrorists from the air and ground”.
It also said another four were killed in an air strike during a simultaneous operation in al-Faraa refuee camp near Tubas.
Local journalists said they had not seen anything of this scope and scale in the West Bank since the days of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, two decades ago.
There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces have intensified their raids, saying they are trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.
Israeli media reported that hundreds of Israeli forces were active in four different cities at least in the north of the West Bank – Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Nablus.
The Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank said on Wednesday morning the bodies of seven people had been brought to Tubas governmental hospital and that two others had arrived at Jenin governmental hospital.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported that at least nine people had been killed across the West Bank, revising down its death toll to 10. It said they included three who were killed in a drone strike in Misilya, a village near Jenin, and four others who were killed in a drone strike in al-Faraa refugee camp, near Tubas.
However, the true figure could be higher, with the governor of Jenin earlier saying that at least 11 people had been killed.
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