Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in latest Jenin raid

Death toll announced by the Palestinian health ministry after latest Israeli raid in occupied West Bank.

An Israeli army raid has killed four Palestinians, including a teenage boy, near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian officials have said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified three of the dead on Thursday as Youssef Shreem, 29, Nidal Khazim, 28, and Omar Awadin, 16. The identity of the fourth is not immediately known.

The raid – the latest since Israel intensified such operations in the West Bank last year – was carried out by undercover Israeli forces “who broke into downtown Jenin”, the Palestinian state news agency Wafa quoted the ministry as saying.

The Israeli army said that “security forces are currently operating in the Jenin refugee camp”.

Jenin is among areas of the northern West Bank where Israel has intensified raids over the past year in an attempt to crack down on growing armed Palestinian resistance.

Amateur video taken by people in Jenin appeared to show a crowd of Palestinians surrounding a car that people suspected carried undercover Israeli troops. Another clip appeared to show Israeli military vehicles towing the car away.

Thursday’s deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the year to 83 as Israel has stepped up arrest raids in the occupied West Bank in response to a series of attacks last spring.

Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed 14 people in 2023.

Last week Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in a raid in Jenin, less than 48 hours after six others were killed in another raid on the city.

In January Israeli troops killed 9 Palestinians including an elderly woman during a large-scale raid on Jenin refugee camp, in one of the deadliest days in the occupied West Bank since Israeli raids intensified at the start of last year.

More than 170 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids in 2022, many of them civilians.