RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES –  Israeli troops killed two Palestinians on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army claimed to have targeted the perpetrators of a “shooting attack”.
“Two martyrs, shot by the occupation (Israeli forces) arrived at Thabet Thabet government hospital,” in the city of Tulkarm, the health ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli army said the two men were “involved in the shooting attack in Avnei Heftz on May 2, 2023 during which an Israeli civilian was injured”.
“The two gunmen were shot and killed after attempting to flee the scene,” an army statement said, adding that two others were arrested in the operation.
“Two M-16 rifles, military vests and magazines” were confiscated during the raid, the army said.
Avnei Heftz is an settlement in the West Bank deemed illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
The Tulkarm Brigade, a local group linked to the Al- Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the armed wing of the ruling Fatah party, claimed the two men as members, naming them as Hamza Khrewish and Samer al-Shafei.
The latest violence brings to 108 the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year.
Nineteen Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP count based on official sources from the two sides.
These figures include combatants as well as civilians, and, on the Israeli side, include three members of the Arab minority.