Israeli airstrike kills two in West Bank
People inspect the damage after an Israeli strike hit a compound beneath a mosque that the Israeli military said was being used by militants to organize attacks, in Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 22, 2023. PHOTO:REUTERS
An Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed two Palestinians on Thursday as Jewish worshippers visited a nearby disputed holy site, Palestinian sources and Israeli army said.
"Two men, aged 18 and 20, were killed and seven people were wounded, one of them seriously, in Balata" refugee camp in Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said a woman and a child were among the wounded, describing the incident as a "drone strike".
The Israeli military said two armed militants were killed in a strike.
"An Israeli air force aircraft attacked and eliminated two armed militants who posed a threat to the forces operating in the area" of Nablus, the military said in a statement.
It said the strike came as the army and police were securing access for worshippers to Joseph's tomb in Nablus during the night.
Jews believe the tomb is the burial site of the biblical patriarch Josep, while Muslims consider it the burial place of a Muslim religious figure.
Violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separate geographically from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory, has surged since the start of the Gaza war on October 7.
At least 627 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli army or settlers, according to an AFP count based on official Palestinian data.
During the same period, at least 18 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks, according to official Israeli data.