At least five people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike on the Nur Shams camp near Tulkarm, stating that it targeted what they described as the command center of a “terror cell.”
In a separate incident, the Palestinian Authority reported that one person was killed and three others injured in an attack by Israeli settlers near Bethlehem. The IDF is investigating these reports.
Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the war in Gaza began, following Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 128 Palestinians, including 26 children, have been killed in air strikes in the West Bank since 7 October.
The agency also reported that as of 19 August, 607 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with seven of those deaths attributed to Israeli settlers.
Additionally, ten Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank, according to the UN.
The Nur Shams camp has been targeted by the IDF multiple times in recent months.
In April, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported 14 deaths during a two-day Israeli operation, and in July, the IDF bulldozed the camp’s main street.
In Monday’s reported attack near Bethlehem, Palestinian media stated that dozens of Israeli settlers entered the village of Wadi Rahhal, assaulting residents. Palestinian officials reported that the settlers shot and killed a 40-year-old Palestinian man and wounded at least three others.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has built about 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, housing approximately 700,000 Jews.
The Palestinians seek this land as part of a future state, and the vast majority of the international community considers these settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.