Israeli troops on day four of deadly West Bank raid

Israel pressed on with a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank for a fourth day on Saturday, while fierce fighting raged in the nearly 11-month Gaza war.

As Palestinians fought Israeli troops in Jenin refugee camp, a local official said soldiers had destroyed most of the streets while power and water have been cut off.

In the northern West Bank, clashes and explosions persisted in Jenin, and both the health ministry and the Red Crescent reported two more Palestinians killed there.

Israel's military said a 20-year-old soldier was killed and another severely wounded.

Smoke rises after an explosion during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp. AP

Earlier, the military said two Palestinians were killed while attempting to carry out separate bombings overnight in the southern West Bank.

‘Worst day’

At least 22 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since Wednesday in simultaneous raids in several cities across the northern West Bank.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have said at least 14 of the dead were members of their armed wings.

Since Friday, soldiers have concentrated operations on Jenin and its refugee camp, a densely-populated community which has long been bastions of Palestinian armed groups.

Battle rages

Hours earlier, the ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded - one of the highest daily tallies in months. The ministry later announced a “repeated attack” on Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City with “many martyrs.”

Israeli armoured vehicles drive in a street during an army raid in Jenin, West Bank on Saturday. AFP

There were no immediate details, and the Israeli military didn’t comment.

West Bank siege

Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on edge as Israel’s military continued its large-scale military campaign, the deadliest since the Israel-Hamas war began, and two car bombings near Israeli settlements left three soldiers injured.

The car bombs exploded in Gush Etzion, a bloc of Israeli settlements. Israel’s military killed both attackers after the explosions in a compound in Karmei Tzur and at a gas station, Israel’s military said.

Hamas did not claim the men as its fighters but called the attack a “heroic operation.”

The group said earlier this month after a bombing attack in Tel Aviv it would continue such attacks.

The bombings took place as Israel continued its large-scale raid - including destruction of infrastructure, airstrikes and gunbattles - into urban refugee camps in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank.

Israel’s incursion started Tuesday, causing alarm among the international community that the war might widen beyond Gaza.

Israel’s military on Saturday said 23 people had been killed since the incursion began, including 14 in the Jenin area. Some people fled Jenin.

A Palestinian walks next to Israeli armoured vehicles during an Israeli raid in Jenin, West Bank, on Saturday. Reuters

Holding a baby, Oroba Al Shalabi said Israeli gunfire had pelted her windows.

“We began screaming that we had small children, but they (the Israeli soldiers) didn’t respond at first. The more we screamed, the more they shot at the house, shattering the TV and the windows around us,” she said.

The family cowered in their kitchen until soldiers entered, she said, separating women and children from the men and searching everyone’s phones before letting her flee.

Israel has described the West Bank operation as a strategy to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians, which have increased during the war in Gaza including near settlements that the international community largely considers illegal.

The Palestinian Health Ministry noted a surge in Palestinian deaths by Israeli forces, with at least 663 killed in the West Bank since the war began.

In central Gaza, Israeli airstrikes hit a multi-storey building housing displaced people in and around Nuseirat, a built-up refugee camp, in Khan Younis and in Gaza City, officials at area hospitals said.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to mediate a cease-fire that would see the remaining hostages released. But the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “total victory” over Hamas and the group has demanded a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.

Agencies