JENIN: The Palestinian health ministry announced that two more Palestinians were killed in an ongoing Israeli military raid in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank. "The bodies of two people killed in the occupation's (Israel) aggression in Kafar Dan were transported to Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin," the ministry said in a statement, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday to 24.
Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were battling in the West Bank Sunday, five days into major coordinated raids and operations.
A "shooting attack" near Tarqumiya checkpoint in the Hebron area in the southern West Bank killed three people on Sunday, Israel's emergency medical service said. The police said they were all members of the force. The military said several assailants may have been involved.
In the northern West Bank, a photographer saw Israeli bulldozers in Jenin's city centre, a day after a local official said soldiers had destroyed most of the streets and power and water had been cut off in the adjacent refugee camp.
At least 22 Palestinians, including 14 claimed by groups members, have been killed by the Israeli military since the start on Wednesday of simultaneous raids across the northern West Bank. A 20-year-old soldier was killed Saturday.
The United Nations said Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began. Twenty-three Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations over the same period, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, in the besieged Gaza Strip, "humanitarian pauses" in the nearly 11-month war between Israel and Hamas were set to take place to facilitate a massive polio vaccination drive which a health official said had begun.
Israel's military said the remains of six captives were recovered Saturday "from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area" in southern Gaza and formally identified in Israel.
US President Joe Biden said he was "devastated and outraged" by their deaths, but told reporters he was "still optimistic" a Gaza truce and captives release deal can be reached.
"It's time this war ended," said Biden, whose administration has been involved in ceasefire mediation efforts along with Qatar and Egypt.
EU top diplomat Josep Borrell said he was "horrified at the murder" of the captives, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed shock at their "senseless" killing. — AFP
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