No fewer than five Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, have been confirmed dead after Israeli forces raided Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian health officials revealed on Tuesday.
An Israeli helicopter fired missiles after Palestinian militants targeted troop carriers with explosives.
It marks a sharp escalation of fighting as frequent raids in the city in the occupied West Bank continue.
The Israeli army said it had to mount a “logistical operation under fire” to remove several stranded vehicles.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Seven Israeli soldiers and border police officers were wounded, three of them ‘moderately’, according to the army.
It is the first time in years – possibly since the height of the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, two decades ago – that the Israeli military has used attack helicopters in the West Bank.
The helicopter reportedly fired at militants on the ground while Israeli forces tried to extract soldiers.
One resident told local media:’We are unable to leave the house, it’s a real war here. Apache helicopters are flying over our heads.’
‘This morning, the helicopter bombed a field in our neighbourhood. Some people were injured and a water pipe was damaged, causing water outages in large parts of Jenin camp.’
The Palestinian Authority described the raid as ‘Israeli aggression on Jenin [which] is a serious, dangerous escalation and must stop immediately’.
A few weeks ago, Israeli forces had killed about 30 Palestinians and injured more than 90 others in air attacks on the Gaza Strip this week, the Palestinian health ministry revealed.
The victims include six children and three women as well as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket force and his deputy.
Palestinian factions in Gaza continued to fire rockets in retaliation from the besieged coastal enclave into Israel, killing one person on Thursday.
Amid mediation efforts by Egypt, neither side seemed ready to douse the worst flare-up since August, now in its third day.