Israel says its forces kill 10 militants in West Bank raid

The Israeli army said Saturday troops had killed 10 militants in an ongoing raid around Nur Shams, a refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank.

AFP journalists heard gunshots and saw houses hit by blasts as Israeli drones flew overhead and armored vehicles moved through the camp.

Since early last year, violence has flared in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. It has escalated further since war broke out in Gaza on October 7.

The army said that over more than 40 hours it had "eliminated 10 terrorists" and made eight arrests around Nur Shams. It said eight soldiers and a police officer were wounded.

The Palestinian health ministry said it had confirmed 11 wounded in the Israeli raid, seven of them "wounded by live gunshots". It said a paramedic shot while trying to get to the wounded was among them.

The health ministry said medics had been alerted to "several killed and injured" inside the camp, but said the army was "denying them access to tend to the wounded".

An AFP journalist said paramedics had tried to enter the camp but had been refused access by the army.

Israeli forces say their frequent raids target Palestinian militants, but civilians are often among the dead.

On Friday the health ministry said 16-year-old Qais Fathi Nasrallah was killed by Israeli troops in the nearby Tulkarem refugee camp.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said he died after being "shot in the head by Israeli live gunfire". It was unclear exactly when he died.

A 30-year-old man, Salim Faisal Ghanem, was "killed by Israeli troops" on Friday in the Nur Shams camp, Wafa said.

Residents contacted by AFP on Saturday said there was no electricity in the camp and food was running short, saying nobody was allowed to enter or leave.

Minister Muayad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, said residents were suffering from the "destruction of homes, shops, the electricity grid, the sewerage, the water network and infrastructure."

Around 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since the Hamas assault on Israel triggered the Gaza war, according to Palestinian official sources.