Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank operation

The Palestinian health ministry said the Israeli army killed two people in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, after Israel's military announced a strike in the area of Jenin.

The ministry said in a statement two people were killed "due to the occupation's aggression on the village of Siir in the Jenin district", referring to Israel.

Hours earlier, Israel's military said in a statement that "an IAF (Israeli air force) aircraft conducted a strike on terrorists in the area of Jenin".

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces were "preventing our teams from reaching the bombing site near the village of Siir".

Israeli soldiers entered the village at around 7:00 am (0500 GMT) on Sunday and had withdrawn by the afternoon, an AFP photographer said.

Two vehicles had been destroyed near a wooded area, and eyewitnesses said the army removed two bodies from a second site that had been hit, the journalist added.

Last month, the Israeli army launched several raids in Jenin, killing nine people, the majority of them Palestinian militants.

Two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were also killed during an Israeli raid in the West Bank village of Yabad on November 24, the Palestinian Authority said.

Violence in the West Bank, particularly in the north of the territory, has soared since the war in Gaza began in October last year after Hamas's attack on Israel.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 780 Palestinians in the West Bank during the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.