Deadly West Bank raids leave 2 dead

Israel pressed on with a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank against Palestinian fighters for a fourth day Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in the nearly 11-month Gaza war.

Despite the clashes in Gaza, a local health official in the Hamas-run territory said polio vaccinations had begun there.

The World Health Organization says Israel has agreed to a series of three-day "humanitarian pauses" to facilitate a mass vaccination campaign after the first confirmed case in Gaza in 25 years, although officials had said it was expected to begin on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the pauses are "not a ceasefire".

As clashes and explosions persisted in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Israel's military said two Palestinians were killed while preparing to carry out separate bombings overnight in the southern West Bank.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war, hailed the twin attacks as a "heroic operation".

Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, which has a strong presence in the northern West Bank, said it "congratulates" those involved in what it called a "coordinated attack".

The Israeli army described a vehicle explosion at a petrol station in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc as "an attempted car bombing by a terrorist" who was later killed.

An army officer "was moderately injured, and a reservist officer responsible for the security in a nearby community sustained minor injuries", it said in a statement.

In the second incident, the head of security in the Israeli settlement of Karmei Zur engaged in a car chase with a "terrorist" who had infiltrated the settlement compound, leading to a collision and "the terrorist being neutralised shortly after", the statement said.

"During the confrontation, an explosive device in the terrorist's car detonated," it added.

At least 20 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since Wednesday in simultaneous raids in several cities across the northern West Bank.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have said at least 13 of the dead were members of their armed wings.

Since Friday, soldiers have concentrated their operations on the city of Jenin and its refugee camps, long a bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel.