Israel raids refugee camp in West Bank, kill 3 Palestinians

Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early Wednesday, killing three Palestinians, injuring scores more, and arresting a high-ranking Palestinian official, Palestinian health and Israeli military officials said.

The raid, which the military said was to root out militancy, included a drone strike — a once rare, but now increasingly common attack mode in the West Bank. The military said the strike targeted and hit several militants. Soldiers and militants exchanged fire in the camp. The military said soldiers found and destroyed an underground shaft full of ammunition.

In the overnight raid, soldiers arrested Ata Abu Rmeileh, Jenin’s highest-ranking Fatah official. Fatah is the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’s main rival. The military said that Rmeileh, who was arrested with his son, was involved in promoting militancy in the area. Israel's military arrested 70 Palestinians overnight, bringing the total number of Palestinians arrested since the war began to 1,830, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

Videos circulating on social media showed lines of Israeli military vehicles streaming into the city, Israeli bulldozers traversing the camp's narrow streets and a puddle of blood on the floor of a major hospital.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7. Since then, Israeli forces and settlers killed 125 Palestinians there, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. (AP)