Israeli raid on West Bank refugee camp kills at least 10 people
Israeli soldiers killed at least 10 people during a raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank on Saturday, Israel's military said. It's the latest deadly assault in the long-running conflict there that has only become worse during the six-month war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The latest violence prompted the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, to declare a general strike across the West Bank on Sunday in protest, with support from Palestinian teachers and transit worker unions. The region's government services, schools and educational facilities are expected to shutter for the day.
The Israeli military said 10 Palestinians had been killed and eight people were arrested during what it called a “counterterrorism operation” at the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem.
Soldiers also raided a compound where explosives were stored and then destroyed or confiscated weapons, the military said.
The Israeli military said the 10 killed were militants, a claim that could not be immediately verified.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank confirmed that at least 13 people, including a 15-year-old, have been killed, with several more wounded during clashes in the area, which have been going on since Thursday evening.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has sharply escalated since the Hamasled attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Across the West Bank and in east Jerusalem, more than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war, according to the United Nations.
Many were killed during near-daily Israeli military raids in Palestinian cities and towns, while others had carried out or attempted attacks on Israelis.
There were clashes elsewhere on the West Bank on Saturday.
Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group that tracks Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank, reported that a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance had been fired at while responding to armed settler attacks in another town farther south, al-Sawiya.