The Israeli army said its soldiers killed two Palestinian fighters and detained two men during a raid on Monday in the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged in parallel to the eight-week-old Gaza war.
The army said troops entered Qalqilya as part of near-daily operations to detain suspected militants linked to Hamas – the Islamist group that runs Gaza – and other groups.
Pursuing gunmen wanted for previous attacks, the troops exchanged fire, killing two of them, an army statement said.
An armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah claimed the two dead men as its members. The official Palestinian news agency said they were killed in a car, and that two other men were arrested. Their identities were not stated.
Israeli forces or settlers have killed 256 Palestinians and detained more than 3,000 in the West Bank since the Gaza war erupted with a cross-border Hamas rampage on Oct. 7, Palestinian officials say.
Four Israelis have been killed in the West Bank by Palestinians in the same period, according to U.N. figures.
(Reuters)