Israeli forces raided the Palestinian city of Jenin on Thursday and fought an hours-long battle with gunmen in which 14 people were killed, one of the heaviest clashes in the occupied West Bank in months.
Rubble and debris were strewn across the streets of Jenin following the raid, and bloodstains could be seen on the ground.
Witnesses said gunfire sounded for hours as Israeli troops fought well-armed militants in the streets of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp, where hundreds of heavily armed gunmen are based.
Israel’s military said it had conducted counter terrorism operations in the city and had used a drone to strike a group of armed militants. It added that it had arrested 20 suspects in the raid and seized both guns and ammunition.
Amongst those killed was a 15-year-old boy, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Four more Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in separate incidents across the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, an increase in violence against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the nearby Gaza Strip.
Clashes also flared elsewhere in the West Bank, with deaths reported close to Bethlehem, Nablus, and Hebron as well as on the outskirts of Ramallah, the main city in the territory.
At least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 attack from Gaza on Israel by gunmen from the Islamist movement Hamas.
Israel unleashed its assault on Gaza in response to the attack in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
