Israel troops kill 3 Palestinians in West Bank raid

Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in an overnight raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday.

The Israeli army confirmed the deaths, saying all three were Palestinian militants, including a senior commander from the Islamic Jihad group.

The raid was the latest in a surge of violence in the Palestinian territory since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip on October 7.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said the three men were killed "by Israeli occupation bullets" during clashes in the Faraa refugee camp near the town of Tubas in the northern West Bank.

Video footage posted on social media showed Israeli military vehicles entering Faraa under the cover of darkness.

"Dozens of young men and armed men from the camp confronted the forces before they called for more reinforcements, including bulldozers that dug the camp's streets and struck the water and sewage networks," said Assem Mansour, head of the camp's popular committee.

Only one of the three men killed was a militant, he said, adding that the other two were civilians who died "in their homes and were killed by snipers deployed in the camp".

The army said its forces had carried out counter-terrorism operations in the region of Tubas and Faraa.

During the activity, troops "eliminated Ahmed Daraghmeh, a senior commander of Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation" in the area of Tubas, the army said, adding two other militants were also killed in the operation.

Daraghmeh had carried out gun and explosives attacks against Israeli soldiers in the past, it said.

One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in the operation, the army said.

The Israeli military has conducted frequent arrest raids in the West Bank.

Since the war in Gaza began, at least 403 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Palestinian militants have also carried out numerous attacks against Israeli troops and civilians in Israel and the West Bank, killing at least 15 people, according to Israeli figures.

Israel captured the West Bank -- including east Jerusalem, which it later unilaterally annexed -- in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.

The Palestinians claim the territory along with the war-torn Gaza Strip for their future independent state.