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Bank — Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in the deadliest day in years in the territory.
The violence occurred during what Palestinian health officials described as a fierce operation in the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold of the West Bank that has been a focus of nearly a year of Israeli arrest raids. The conflict spiked this month, with 29 Palestinians killed since the start of the year. It was not immediately clear how many of those killed Thursday were affiliated with armed groups.
The fighting comes weeks into Israel’s new government, its most right-wing ever, which has pledged to take a hard line against the Palestinians and ramp up settlement construction on lands the Palestinian seek for their hoped-for state. It also comes days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in the region and push for steps that might improve daily life for the Palestinians.
The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has a major foothold in the camp. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it was targeting militants who it said were planning to carry out an imminent attacks on Israelis.
