Israeli troops have killed at least nine Palestinians and injured 20 others in a brutal raid.
The health ministry confirmed all casualties, including a child, sustained gunshot wounds in the chest, shoulders, abdomen and lower extremities in the attack which Palestinians have described as a “massacre” in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
During the violent raid into the city and neighbouring refugee camp, a 60-year-old woman and two men aged 24 and 26 were tragically killed while homes and cars were bulldozed.
Jenin hospital identified the woman killed as Magda Obaid and the Israeli military said it was looking into reports of her death.
The two slain youths were identified as Saeb Issam Mahmoud Izreiqi and Izzidin Yassin Salahat.
Health Minister, Mai al-Kaileh, stated that the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) first emergency medical workers at the scene said they could not evacuate the wounded as soldiers restricted access.
They also said the occupation forces fired gas bombs toward the children's section of Jenin Government Hospital, causing suffocation cases from gas inhalation among Palestinians, including mothers and children.
“The ambulance driver tried to get to one of the martyrs who was on the floor, but the Israeli forces shot directly at the ambulance and prevented them from approaching him,” Wissam Baker, head of Jenin public hospital, told Al Jazeera.
The army force reportedly disconnected the power supply to the camp, denied paramedics and journalists access to it and directly opened fire on an ambulance.
In defence, the Israeli military said they had been sent into Jenin to detain Islamic Jihad fighters suspected of carrying out and planning “multiple major terror attacks”.
“During the operation, the security forces operated to surround the building in which the suspects were located. Two armed suspects were identified fleeing the scene and were neutralized by the security forces,” Israeli officials said in a statement.
Jenin is one of the prime areas in Palestine on the northern West Bank where Israel has intensified raids over the past year.
It was the site of revered journalist Shireen Abu Akleh's death which caused a global outcry.
Jenin’s deputy governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said residents were living in a “real state of war”. He said: “The Israeli army is destroying everything and shooting at everything that moves.”
Thursday’s fatalities bring the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this year to 29, most of whom were shot by Israeli forces.
The United Nations said 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2006.
More than 30 children were among the 171 Palestinians killed in the West Bank last year, and at least 9,000 other Palestinians were injured.
