Israeli forces kill nine Palestinians during West Bank raid

Israeli forces have killed nine Palestinians during a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank in the deadliest single day in the territory in years, prompting Palestinian leaders to cut security ties with Israel and leaving international mediators scrambling to prevent the violence from escalating.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers arrived at daybreak at several entrances of the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold in the north of the Palestinian territory, said Sakir Khader, a Palestinian-Dutch film-maker at the scene. Armed Palestinians shot at an Israeli armoured vehicle disguised as a commercial van, at which point the IDF returned fire and a fierce four-hour gun battle ensued, causing widespread damage, he said.

UN and Arab mediators said on Thursday afternoon that negotiations were being held with Israel and Palestinian factions across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an effort to calm the situation.

Israel did not give any immediate indication it was engaged in talks. The defence minister, Yoav Gallant, put forces in the occupied West Bank and on the Gaza frontier on heightened alert.

The IDF said it conducted the unusual daytime operation, which ventured deep into the camp, because of intelligence suggesting a cell linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad was planning to carry out imminent attacks against Israelis.

The army also denied firing teargas at a nearby hospital after video emerged showing children in the paediatric ward choking and coughing. Teargas had probably wafted inside the hospital from the clashes nearby, it said. There were no Israeli casualties.

The operation has contributed to the highest death toll in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, concluded in 2005, with about 250 Palestinians and 30 Israelis killed last year, according to rights groups. Another 30 Palestinians, among them fighters and civilians, have been killed so far in 2023.

As large funeral processions in Jenin got under way on Thursday afternoon, Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags at half mast. A general strike was also declared across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and by lunchtime hundreds of people had headed towards Israeli military checkpoints to protest.

At the Beit El checkpoint near Ramallah, soldiers fired teargas at the demonstrators, some of whom threw stones and set fire to tyres. Three Palestinians in the area were reportedly shot and seriously injured, according to local media.

Tensions in the decades-long conflict have soared as a result of the escalating violence, and recent polling suggests that support for the dormant peace process has reached an all-time low on both sides.