[Source: BBC]

At least nine Palestinians have been killed in a major operation by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces have intensified their raids, saying they are trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.

Israeli media reported that hundreds of Israeli forces were active in four different cities at least in the north of the West Bank – Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Nablus.

The Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank said on Wednesday morning the bodies of seven people had been brought to Tubas governmental hospital and that two others had arrived at Jenin governmental hospital.

The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported that at least nine people had been killed across the West Bank, revising down its death toll to 10. It said they included three who were killed in a drone strike in Misilya, a village near Jenin, and four others who were killed in a drone strike in al-Faraa refugee camp, near Tubas.

However, the true figure could be higher, with the governor of Jenin earlier saying that at least 11 people had been killed.

In Jenin – a regular flashpoint – troops blocked all but one of the entrances to the city and set up checkpoints.

The health ministry said Israeli forces had also surrounded Jenin government hospital and the nearby Ibn Sina hospital, as well as the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Friends of the Patients society.

It warned that they were threatening to storm the hospitals and that doing so would threaten the lives of dozens of patients inside as well as medical staff.

The health ministry also accused them of obstructing the work of ambulances, which it said was a violation of international law.

The troops have also been searching Jenin refugee camp, which is a base for armed groups and has been the scene of many fierce gun battles in the past.

A resident of the camp told the BBC that he could hear explosions nearby and the buzzing of drones overhead, but that there was currently no sign of armed fighters taking on Israeli forces.

They also said forces had exposed and dismantled explosives that had been planted under local roads to attack them.

Hamas later put out a statement mourning six men who it said were fighters killed by Israeli forces in Jenin on Wednesday.

The UN said 622 Palestinians – members of armed groups, attackers and civilians – had been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between 7 October and Monday. At least 602 were killed by Israeli forces, including 126 in air strikes, and 11 by Israeli settlers, it added.

Fifteen Israelis, including nine members of Israeli forces and five settlers, were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank during the same period, while 10 Israelis were killed in Israel in attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.