By Ali Sawafta
TUBAS, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed at least six Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, as soldiers continued a large-scale operation against militant groups in the area.
As a result of the air attack in the city of Tubas, according to the military, 5 people armed with explosives that posed a threat to Israeli forces were killed, weapons production facilities, as well as a car equipped with explosives and a remote control were destroyed.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that the rescue teams removed 5 bodies from the scene and took them to the hospital.
In a separate incident in the town of Tulkarm, the military said troops backed by police and intelligence services killed an armed militant.
There was no immediate confirmation from any of the Palestinian armed groups that any of their fighters were killed in the operation.
Entrances and exits to Tubas have been sealed off, and Israeli military vehicles, including trucks and armored personnel carriers, have driven through the town at the northern end of the West Bank, near the border with Jordan.
As operations continued Wednesday, the military reported an attack east of Ramallah in the West Bank, where the driver of a fuel tanker sped toward Israeli soldiers before being shot down. According to the military, one Israeli soldier was killed in the incident.
Israeli forces have been conducting a series of operations in the northern West Bank for the past two weeks, with large-scale raids in Tubas, Jenin and Tulkarm. All three cities are home to armed groups, including Hamas, Iran-backed Islamic Jihad and Fatah.
It is reported that there were violent clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters, and as a result of Israeli forces digging up roads and destroying houses, streets and infrastructure were severely damaged in all three cities.
Qais Ambar, a resident of the refugee camp in Tulkarm, where two Palestinians were killed in Tuesday’s raid, said people had been forced to flee because their homes had been destroyed, with many seeking shelter in the city’s mosques.
“The bulldozer swept the house, the debris covered my neighbor’s house. They forced us to leave,” he said.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began, with Israeli forces arresting thousands almost every day and fighting regular skirmishes between security forces and Palestinian fighters.
According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 680 Palestinians, including fighters and unarmed civilians, have been killed in the West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year.
According to Israel’s internal security agency, about 40 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed in Palestinian attacks or clashes with militants during the same period.
