Two Palestinians were killed Thursday morning in a new operation by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, a week after deadly attacks in the heart of the Tel Aviv metropolis, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
“Two youths succumbed to their injuries from an Israeli attack in the Jenin district” in the northern West Bank, the ministry said in a statement.
For its part, the Israeli army said it was carrying out “counterterrorism operations” in the occupied West Bank, without commenting immediately on the victims reported by the Palestinian authorities.
According to local sources, the two young men died during clashes in villages located around the city of Jenin, a stronghold of the Palestinian armed movements in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli army on Saturday launched a vast operation in the occupied West Bank, saying it was tracking down suspects linked, according to it, to anti-Israeli attacks, in particular the one that killed three people last Thursday in the center of Tel Aviv and perpetrated by a young Palestinian from Jenin.
Since March 22, Israel has been hit by four attacks, the first two carried out by Israeli Arabs linked to the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) and the last two by Palestinians from the Jenin area.
These attacks have left a total of 14 dead while 20 Palestinians, including assailants, have been killed in violence since that date, according to an AFP tally.
On Wednesday, a lawyer and two young Palestinians lost their lives in separate incidents in the West Bank.