Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in West Bank

Gulf Today Report

Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank early on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in what Army Radio described as a large-scale operation against militants.

In a statement on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry identified the three men killed in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun (32), Fathi Abu Rizk (30) and Abdullah Abu Hamdan (24).

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The Israeli military did not immediately release details. Army Radio said hundreds of soldiers took part in the pre-dawn raid and that the three Palestinians killed were gunmen who had exchanged fire with the forces.

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

Nearly three million Palestinians live there, along with about 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered to be illegal under international law.

Israeli soldiers leave after a raid at the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early on Monday. AFP

The latest deaths come just over a week into a fragile Gaza ceasefire after a five day cross-border conflict between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group.

On Sunday night, an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in a car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank town of Huwara near Nablus, the Israeli army said, adding that the vehicle fled the scene.

Since the start of the year, at least 153 Palestinians, 20 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians and three members of the Arab minority.