World

Israeli military strikes Jenin on day three of its West Bank raid

The Palestinian health ministry says at least 663 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war.

A damaged car after a military operation in the West Bank town of Zababdeh, south of Jenin, on Friday (Majdi Mohammed/AP)
A damaged car after a military operation in the West Bank town of Zababdeh, south of Jenin, on Friday (Majdi Mohammed/AP) (Majdi Mohammed/AP)

The Israeli military struck the West Bank city of Jenin, authorities said on Friday, the third day of heavy fighting in the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military says it “struck a terrorist cell”.

Such airstrikes, while common over the months-long Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, have been rare in the West Bank in the time since.

Israel says the raids across the northern West Bank, which have killed at least 19 people, mostly militants, since late Tuesday, are aimed at preventing attacks.

Palestinians next to a wall damaged from shrapnel, after a military operation in Zababdeh (Majdi Mohammed/AP)
Palestinians next to a wall damaged from shrapnel, after a military operation in Zababdeh (Majdi Mohammed/AP) (Majdi Mohammed/AP)

The Palestinians see them as a widening of the war in Gaza and an effort to perpetuate Israel’s decades-long military rule over the territory.

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The Palestinian health ministry says at least 663 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war.

In the Gaza Strip, where the health ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7 with Hamas’ attack on Israel, an Israeli missile hit a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing several people from a local transportation company.

Israel claimed without evidence that it opened fire after gunmen seized the convoy.