Police say five Palestinians killed in West Bank operation

Five Palestinians were killed and a police officer injured in an anti-terrorist operation by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on Saturday.

During a twelve-hour operation north of the town of Turkam, soldiers and police surrounded a house in which suspected members of a terrorist cell were staying, according to a police spokesman.

After shots were fired from the building, the security forces returned fire with various weapons systems. The building was also attacked twice by an Israeli drone.

Military equipment and weapon parts were seized in the building, the statement added.

According to Israeli reports, the victims were members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist Hamas organisation. They are said to have killed one soldier and injured another in an attack in April.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank stated on Saturday that two of the five victims were members of the Al-Qassam Brigades.

There has been an increase in attacks by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in recent years.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the Hamas massacre on October 7 last year, the situation has worsened once again. According to the Ministry of Health in the West Bank, at least 473 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks since then.

At the same time, there has also been an increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.