Israeli troops killed three Palestinians during a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, officials said.
The Israeli military said it killed the wanted suspect in a firefight after surrounding the house where he was staying. Two other armed militants were killed as they tried to flee the house in an operation that lasted four hours and involved “various means”.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men in their 30s were shot dead by Israeli troops in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm. The ministry did not comment on the third casualty.
Residents of the camp said the two men shot dead were not inside the besieged house and their bodies were found outside. Israel fired rockets at the house and bulldozed part of it before its troops left.
Hours after the operation, none of the three men had been declared militants.
Last week, Israeli troops dressed as medics and women stormed a hospital in the northern West Bank town of Jenin and killed three Palestinian fighters, one of whom lay paralysed in bed.
More than 27,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. Many thousands more are buried in the rubble. Swathes of Gaza have been destroyed and 1.9 million of its 2.3 million people have been displaced.
Israel launched the offensive after a bloody surprise attack by Hamas into Israel on 7 October that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians in their homes or at a music festival. About 240 hostages were taken back to Gaza by the group. Senior military officials have said the offensive could last for many more months, even into 2025.
