Israeli army kills two Palestinians during an operation in Tulkarem (West Bank)

September 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry on Tuesday reported the deaths of two Palestinians after being shot by the Israeli army while carrying out a new “anti-terrorist” military operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the scene until last week of several days of incursions by Israeli troops, which focused on the northern part of the West Bank.

The ministry reported on its Facebook account the death of a woman, who was taken to Al Israa Hospital, and a man, who was taken to Tulkarem Governorate Hospital.

According to sources from the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the dead man has been identified as Ahmed Majduba, 24. Israeli forces have also arrested six workers from the Return Centre in the Tulkarem refugee camp.

The Israeli army also raided the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance centre, where they arrested ambulance officer Moataz Jumaa, paramedic Tawfiq Kanu and volunteer Abdul Rahman Ahmed Hamad. Around ten people were wounded by gunfire during the operation in the city.

The operation, dubbed “Summer Camps,” was reactivated on Tuesday after starting on August 28 with a series of raids in Tulkarem, Tubas and Jenin, from where the forces withdrew on Friday. However, the army said it would continue its operations.

The Palestinian Authority-linked health ministry has put the number of dead at 39 and nearly 150 wounded in the West Bank since the start of the security operation — including seven in Tulkarem — the largest in more than two decades since the end of the Second Intifada in 2002.

Israel has stepped up its operations in the West Bank following the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, which left some 1,200 people dead and nearly 250 kidnapped. However, the area had already recorded its highest death toll at the hands of Israeli troops in the previous nine months of 2023.

Palestinian authorities have estimated that more than 690 people have been killed and nearly 5,700 injured since October 7 by Israeli forces’ operations and attacks by settlers, while more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 95,000 injured by the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.