Israel Troops Kill 3 Palestinians in West Bank Raid

Workers are seen at the site where three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Faraa refugee camp near the West Bank town of Tubas, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP)
Workers are seen at the site where three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Faraa refugee camp near the West Bank town of Tubas, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP)
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Israel Troops Kill 3 Palestinians in West Bank Raid

Workers are seen at the site where three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Faraa refugee camp near the West Bank town of Tubas, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP)
Workers are seen at the site where three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Faraa refugee camp near the West Bank town of Tubas, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP)

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 organization" 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.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”