Israeli army says it has “eliminated” five Palestinian fighters in occupied West Bank

The Israeli army claimed to have killed “five terrorists holed up in a mosque” Thursday, August 29, the second day of the“anti-terrorist operation” in several towns and refugee camps in the northern occupied West Bank.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army said it had “eliminated” nine Palestinian fighters after launching columns of armoured vehicles during the night on Jenin, Tulkarem, Toubas and their refugee camps, where armed groups fighting against Israel are particularly active. For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports “12 dead” since the beginning of the Israeli raids.

The five Palestinians killed Thursday were in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, where an Israeli aircraft had already killed five other fighters according to the army on Monday evening. On Thursday morning, residents told AFP that the Israeli army had withdrawn from the al-Faraa camp in Tubas, where several Palestinians were killed on Wednesday. Clashes were still taking place Thursday morning in Jenin, which was being overflown by an Israeli drone, an AFP journalist reported. Israeli soldiers also continued to operate in Tulkarm.

Israeli incursions into Palestinian autonomous areas are a daily occurrence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by the Israeli army since 1967. However, it is rare for them to be carried out simultaneously in several cities, as has been the case since Wednesday.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, at least 637 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli army or settlers, according to the UN, and at least 19 Israelis, including soldiers, in Palestinian attacks or during army operations in the Palestinian autonomous zone, according to official Israeli data.