At least 5 Palestinians killed by Israel in West Bank refugee camp

JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians in raids on Tuesday on a refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Khawla Abdo, a 53-year-old woman, was killed as a result of shelling by Israeli forces at dawn, while Fathi Saeed Odeh Salem, an 18-year-old man, died after being shot in the abdomen and chest, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Another Palestinian woman died in the afternoon due to sustained injuries from the attack.

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The ministry said at least two more Palestinians were killed, with seven others injured, in a new round of shelling in Tulkarm by Israeli forces later on Tuesday. Three of the people were seriously injured.

The Israeli military said earlier it killed one Palestinian in a “counter-terrorism” operation in Tulkarm, while its forces arrested 18 other wanted individuals and confiscated dozens of weapons.

Late on Tuesday, the military also said aircraft had struck armed militants in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza and a wider conflict on several fronts.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching Salem by opening fire on them.

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Bulldozers also demolished infrastructure in Tulkarm camp, including homes, shops, part of the walls of Al-Salam mosque, which they barricaded off, and part of the camp’s water network, it said.