<\/p>\n
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in a pre-dawn raid in the West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army confirmed it carried out \u201ccounter-terrorism\u201d activity in the occupied territory.<\/p>\n
Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged since early last year, particularly in the West Bank, where the latest deaths bring to eight the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli incursions since Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo Palestinians were killed by live Israeli bullets to the head\u201d in the town of Tulkarem, the ministry said, while the army confirmed a soldier had been \u201cmoderately injured by gunshot fragments\u201d during clashes in Nur Shams refugee camp near the town.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian health ministry identified the two killed as Osaid Abu Ali, 22, and Abd al-Rahman Abu Daghash, 32.<\/p>\n
Ibrahim al-Nimer, a resident and representative of the Palestinian Prisoners\u2019 Club advocacy group in the camp said the \u201ctwo were civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe army entered the camp after 2:00am \u2026 and demolished streets and some houses in the camp,\u201d Nimer told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n Troops dismantled an \u201coperational command centre\u201d inside a building in the camp and also uncovered a large number of explosive devices including gas-based explosive devices, the army said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the activity, suspects opened fire and hurled explosive devices at the forces who responded with live fire,\u201d the army said.<\/p>\n In recent months, there has been a surge in such military raids and a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis, as well as an increase in West Bank settler attacks against Palestinians.<\/p>\n Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.<\/p>\n Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.<\/p>\n The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all land it occupied in the Six-Day War and to dismantle all Jewish settlements.<\/p>\n However, the hard-right coalition government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed forward settlement expansion. Among the government members are settlers, including extreme-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.<\/p>\n At least 241 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year.<\/p>\n The bloodshed has also seen 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian killed over the same period, according to an AFP<\/em> tally based on official sources on both sides.<\/p>\n They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, mainly civilians including minors and three members of the Arab minority.<\/p>\n In recent days, unrest has also surged in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, with Palestinians holding daily protests that have turned violent along the border with Israel.<\/p>\n On Saturday, the Israeli army carried out a drone strike after violent protests in which three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire.<\/p>\n The strike was one of a series that have come amid protests at the border by Palestinians after Israeli closed the Erez crossing, the only one into Israel from Gaza.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s strike targeted \u201ca military post belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation,\u201d the army said, referring to the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in a pre-dawn raid in the West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army confirmed it carried out \u201ccounter-terrorism\u201d activity in the occupied territory. Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged since early last year, particularly in the West Bank, where the latest deaths […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/09\/241159320c37969.jpg?r=120002","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tViolence in Gaza<\/h2>\n