Israeli troops kill two Palestinians in West Bank clash

The West Bank, among territories where Palestinians seek statehood, has seen a surge of violence in recent months (AFP)

• The Hamas and Islamic Jihad factions said their men were fighting soldiers at the time

JEDDAH: Israeli forces killed two Hamas militants on Thursday in a shootout in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the two dead men as Abdul Rahman Atta, 23, and Huthaifa Faris, 27. Hamas said they were members of its armed wing.
Israel’s military said the gunfight erupted after soldiers identified a “suspicious vehicle” near Shufa village.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces prevented their crews from treating the two men and removed the bodies from the scene at a checkpoint.
Following the shootings, Palestinians gathered on a road around bloodstains that had been marked out by leaves arranged in a heart shape on the ground.
Violence also rocked the Tulkarem refugee camp during a raid by Israeli forces.
The military said forces had engaged in “an exchange of fire” and that militants hurled explosives at them. As they withdrew from the camp, five Israeli police officers were wounded by an explosive device.
Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group said their fighters ambushed Israeli forces in Tulkarem, using improvised explosive devices.
They “detonated a number of IEDs against the vehicles storming the camp, then engaged in clashes” at close range with the Israeli forces, Hamas said.
At least 245 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in a surge in violence this year in the occupied West Bank, including attacks by illegal Jewish settlers.