Israeli raid kills at least 5 Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli military forces killed at least five Palestinian fighters near the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank on Monday, during a firefight that the Israeli army said began after soldiers sought to arrest gunmen accused of recently attempting an attack at a nearby Israeli settlement.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, later said the five men were members of its armed wing, in a rare acknowledgment of the group's armed activity inside the West Bank, where it has recently kept a low profile.
The deaths near Jericho brought the number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year to more than 40, most of them during gunbattles that broke out during Israeli operations to arrest members of armed Palestinian groups.
That toll constitutes the deadliest start to a year for Palestinians in the West Bank in the past 15 years, drawing comparisons with the violence of the early years of this century, when a Palestinian uprising, known as the second intifada, left roughly 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis dead.
Seven Israelis have also been killed since the start of the year, all during a mass shooting Jan. 27 by a Palestinian attacker in East Jerusalem — the deadliest attack in the city since 2008.
Israeli officials have said the Israeli death toll this year could have been far higher if two Palestinians, both carrying assault rifles, had not aborted an attempted attack a day later at a restaurant in an Israeli settlement south of Jericho, a Palestinian city in the east of the occupied West Bank, close to the border with Jordan.
Israeli officials said one of their weapons malfunctioned.
The Israeli army said its raid Monday morning on a Palestinian neighborhood adjacent to the settlement was an attempt to capture the two men and other members of their cell. At least five Palestinians were killed during an ensuing gunfight, an Israeli security official said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said three others were injured in the gunbattle.
After initially avoiding claiming direct connection to the incident, Hamas announced late Monday afternoon that the five slain fighters were members of its armed wing.