Israeli troops kill 9 Palestinians in West Bank raid in deadliest unrest just days before US visit

Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days in months of unrest.

The violence occurred during what Palestinian health officials described as a fierce operation in the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold of the West Bank that has been a focus of nearly a year of Israeli arrest raids.

The fighting comes weeks into Israel’s new government, its most right-wing ever, which has pledged to take a hard line against the Palestinians and ramp up settlement construction on lands the Palestinian seek for their hoped-for state. It also comes days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in the region and push for steps that might improve daily life for the Palestinians.

The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has major foothold in the camp. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it was targeting militants involved in planning and carrying out attacks on Israelis.

At least one of the dead was identified by Palestinians as a militant.

Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics were struggling to reach the wounded amid the fighting. She also accused the military of firing tear gas at the paediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. The military had no immediate comment.