More Palestinians killed as West Bank violence flares
STORY: Israeli forces killed more than a dozen Palestinians during an extended raid in the West Bank, according to Palestinian authorities on Saturday (April 20).
It's one of the occupied area's heaviest casualties in months, amid a recent surge in violence.
The Israeli army released video said to show its operations during the raid, which began in the early hours of Friday (April 19) in the Nur Shams area, near the flashpoint city of Tulkarm.
It said a number of militants were killed or arrested during the raid, with at least four Israeli soldiers wounded.
Reuters was not able to independently confirm the date or location of the footage.
Bursts of gunfire could be heard in Nur Shams, as the fighting went on well into Saturday.
It's an area housing refugees and their descendants from the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel.
This resident described the situation there as "Gaza number two", saying the camp was destroyed and uninhabitable.
The war in Gaza has overshadowed continuing violence in the West Bank.
It includes regular Israeli army raids on areas said to harbor militant groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages, and street attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.
But the conflict there stepped up about a week ago, after an Israeli teenager went missing in the West Bank, according to Israeli authorities.
As people searched for the boy overnight, Jewish settlers entered a nearby Palestinian village and set houses and cars ablaze.
His body was discovered the next day in what Israel said was a suspected militant attack.
The U.S. State Department condemned the killing of the Israeli teen, but also said it was increasingly concerned by violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Separately, on Saturday, Palestinian officials said an ambulance driver was killed by Israeli gunfire as he was making his way to people injured during a settler attack on the village of Al-Sawiya.
While hundreds of Palestinians marched in a funeral procession for two men said to be killed during another attack by settlers on Monday on a village called Aqraba.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israeli soldiers blocked its ambulances from reaching the area.
Israel's military did not immediately comment on the ambulance driver's death on Saturday.
It earlier said it was looking into the Aqraba incident.
