At least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the occupied West Bank town of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Health Ministry said late on Thursday.
The Palestinian Authority-run Wafa news agency said the airstrike hit a cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp where many civilians were present.
The Israeli military said its air force carried out a strike in Tulkarm in a joint operation with its Shin Bet security service and killed the head of Hamas in Tulkarm and “other key terrorists”.
There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
More than 700 Palestinians have been killed since then as Israeli forces have intensified their attacks, saying they were trying to halt deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.
The Israeli military has carried out dozens of airstrikes on the occupied West Bank over the past year, but normally using drones or helicopters.
A resident of the area told AFP news agency that the Israeli “attacked a cafeteria in a three-story building.”
“There are many victims in hospital,” the resident added, saying the death toll was likely to rise.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said the attack killed Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who they said had carried out a car bombing and supplied weapons last month.
Wafa quoted a local official as saying that children and elderly people from several families had been killed in the strike.
Tulkarm was among the towns and Palestinian refugee camps targeted during a major Israeli military operation in August.
Last month, UN rights chief Volker Turk said major Israeli operations were taking place in the occupied West Bank “on a scale not seen in the past 20 years.”
More than 700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank in the past year, the Palestinian Health Ministry says.
Meanwhile, at least 24 Israelis, including members of the security forces, were killed by Palestinian attackers during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
