RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES – Israeli forces killed three Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as violence surges across the territory during the ongoing war in Gaza.
More than 110 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7.
The health ministry said three people aged 29 to 31 were shot dead by Israeli forces at dawn, with the incidents taking place in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, in Nablus’s Askar refugee camp and in Tubas, a town further north.
The ministry did not provide further details.
The Israeli military said that during activity to demolish a home in Askar, “explosive devices were hurled at Israeli security forces and exchanges of fire took place.”
During arrests in Jenin and nearby, “suspects hurled explosive devices at the forces and exchanges of fire took place,” the army said.
And, while carrying out raids and related activities “in the town of Bayt Rima, Molotov cocktails and explosive devices were hurled at the forces, who responded with live fire,” according to a statement from the army.
Israel occupied the West Bank during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and its forces regularly carry out raids on Palestinian fighters there.
Since October 7, “over 1,030 wanted suspects have been apprehended” in the West Bank, “700 of whom are affiliated with the Hamas,” the army said.
In recent months there has also been a rise in violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians.
On Saturday, a 40-year-old Palestinian who was harvesting his olives was killed by a settler in the village of Sawiya near Nablus, the health ministry said.
Settlers said he was killed as they acted in self-defense after a clash erupted between Palestinians and members of an Israeli community nearby.