Israel kills 3 Palestinians in West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to the official news agency Wafa.

Wafa said three young men lost their lives by Israeli fire during a military raid in the town of Qabatiya near Jenin.

Israeli forces surrounded a house in the town and ordered those inside to surrender before opening fire on the house, eyewitnesses said.

Dozens of families fled their homes in the area due to the fire, they added.

Video clips shared by activists on social media showed three corpses on the rooftop of a house in Qabatiya as Israeli forces were shooting at them.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said medics were prevented by Israeli forces from reaching the besieged house.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 710 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the West Bank since last Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice last July that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.