Palestinian women stand near the damaged site of a drone strike in Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm on Tuesday. Reuters

Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on the occupied West Bank on Monday in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck operations centre in the camp and more details would follow.

Four loud explosions were heard after an Israeli drone targeted a house in the camp, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

Clashes in the occupied West Bank have risen sharply since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last year as Israeli forces have stepped up operations against armed groups, including Hamas and the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad.

Palestinian women cry over the body of a relative, killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Nur Shams camp on Tuesday. AFP

Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and at least 637 killed, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures. Many of them are armed fighters but others are stone-throwing youths or uninvolved civilians.

At least 30 Israelis — civilians and soldiers — have been killed by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank in the same period, official Israeli figures showed.

Reuters