Four Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in occupied West Bank

This violence is the latest in this area, which has been the scene of almost daily fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in recent months.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said four men were shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Jenin, and said 44 were injured.

A source from Jenin governorate told AFP that among the Palestinians killed was Abed Hazem, brother of Raad Hazem who is accused of carrying out a deadly attack in Tel Aviv last April.

The Israeli army, for its part, claimed to have killed "two suspects involved in a number of recent attacks".

"While the accommodation where the two suspects were located was surrounded, an explosive device detonated and the suspects opened fire in the direction of the security forces, who returned fire (...) killing the two suspects," the police said. Israeli army, confirming that Abed Hazem was one of the men killed.

His brother, Raad Hazem is accused of killing three Israelis in a shooting in the Dizengoff neighborhood in central Tel Aviv on April 7. He had been shot shortly after the attack after an extensive manhunt.

Israeli forces had since been in pursuit of his brother, Abed, and their father Fathi.

- Israel on the alert -

Twenty people have been killed in a series of anti-Israeli attacks since March.

Since then, the Israeli army has multiplied its operations in the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by the Jewish state, particularly in the regions of Nablus and Jenin where Palestinian armed groups are active.

These operations, frequently interspersed with clashes with the local population or combatants, left dozens dead on the Palestinian side and led to the arrest of more than 1,500 people, according to the head of the Israeli army, Aviv Kohavi.

Reacting to this new murderous raid, the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abou Roudeina, accused Israel on Wednesday of "undermining security and stability by pursuing a policy of escalation".

Analysts say the increase in Israeli raids in the West Bank is further weakening the Palestinian Authority of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel has demanded that Palestinian Authority security forces do more to suppress gunmen in the West Bank, and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid pledged earlier this month that he would not hesitate to "act wherever the Palestinian Authority does not maintain order".

Israeli forces are on high alert during the major Jewish holidays which began Sunday with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and continues through Tuesday with Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

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