Israeli Airstrike Kills Five Palestinians in West Bank Amid Escalating Conflict

In the early hours of Wednesday, five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tubas, a city located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that the attack, carried out by a drone, targeted a group of young men near a mosque. Their bodies were transported to the local government hospital by an ambulance crew.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that the airstrike was aimed at an “armed terrorist cell” during a counter-terrorism operation in Tubas and the nearby town of Tamun. A senior Israeli military official later confirmed that a curfew had been imposed on Tubas as part of the ongoing operation. The government hospital was surrounded, with restricted entry and exit, subject to security checks.

Palestinian news agency Wafa described the Israeli forces as conducting extensive raids on the outskirts of Tubas and several of its neighborhoods. Simultaneously, Israeli military actions continued in Tulkarm and its refugee camps for a second consecutive day.

The violence in Tulkarm intensified on Tuesday when the Palestinian health ministry reported that Israeli forces had shot and killed a Palestinian man and woman. The IDF has yet to issue a statement regarding these fatalities.

This latest wave of violence follows Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent conflict in Gaza. Over the course of nine days, at least 36 Palestinians were killed in the Tubas, Tulkarm, and Jenin regions. Although most of the victims were affiliated with armed groups, the health ministry confirmed that children were among the dead. An Israeli soldier was also killed in the Jenin clashes.

In another incident on Wednesday, Israeli paramedics reported that an Israeli man was critically injured in a vehicular ramming attack near the Givat Assaf settlement. The IDF said the attacker, identified as a Palestinian from Rafat near Ramallah, was "neutralized" at the scene.

This attack occurred just days after three Israeli security guards were fatally shot by a Jordanian truck driver at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.

Violence has sharply escalated in the West Bank since last October. According to the Palestinian health ministry, over 690 Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces ramp up nearly daily raids targeting search and arrest operations. Israel maintains that these actions are aimed at curbing Palestinian attacks, which have claimed the lives of 28 Israelis since early September, according to UN figures.