5 killed by Israeli troops in West Bank raid

Jerusalem, May 16 (IANS) Israeli forces killed five Palestinians during a raid in the West Bank town of Tammun, the military said, describing the dead as militants involved in what it called "significant terrorist activity".

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday that its elite Duvdevan "undercover unit," operating alongside Border Police and under the direction of the Shin Bet security agency, launched coordinated raids in Tammun and the nearby city of Tubas.

The military said its forces came under fire while targeting two buildings allegedly used by armed operatives, Xinhua news agency reported.

An exchange of fire followed, during which the troops used shoulder-fired missiles.

Five individuals were killed and another was detained, the statement said.

The IDF reported the seizure of three M-16 rifles and four military vests.

There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials on the identities or affiliations of those killed.

In another operation in Tubas, Israeli forces said they arrested three more individuals and confiscated additional weapons, including six M-16 rifles, a pistol, magazines, hand grenades, improvised explosive devices, and gas canisters.

The raids came just hours after the death of an Israeli woman who was shot in the West Bank while in late-stage pregnancy.

The woman, 37-year-old Tzeela Gez, was critically wounded in a shooting on Wednesday night and died early Thursday at Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv.

Doctors performed an emergency caesarean section to deliver the baby, who was transferred to a children's hospital for further treatment.

Gez's husband sustained minor injuries.

The couple had been driving between the Israeli settlements of Brukhin and Peduel at the time of the attack.

Israeli forces said a manhunt was underway for the gunman.

Tensions have surged in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli military has intensified its operations in northern areas of the West Bank, amid a rise in settler violence and near-daily clashes with Palestinian groups.

According to international humanitarian organisations, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, along with the rest of the West Bank, in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered occupied Palestinian territory, and its annexation by Israel is deemed illegal.

--IANS

int/khz