JERUSALEM, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Three Palestinians, including two children, were killed on Wednesday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency WAFA said, as Israeli strikes persisted following Monday’s killing of three Israelis in the territory.
The Israeli military said its air force “struck a terrorist cell in the area of Tamun”, a town northeast of Nablus city. It told Reuters it was looking into reports children had been killed in the strike and would respond shortly.
WAFA said two boys, aged nine and ten, were killed by a drone strike which also killed a 23-year-old man. There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Violence in the West Bank has intensified in parallel with 15 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, with killings by Palestinian militants, increased Israeli military raids and a rise in revenge attacks by Jewish settlers.
Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza conflict.
The attack on Monday that killed three Israelis occurred near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, home of Israel’s hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Hamas praised the incident but did not claim responsibility.
The escalating West Bank bloodshed comes amidst another push by international mediators to seal a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal in Gaza before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
WAFA said that in addition to drones, Israel’s military deployed snipers in Tamun and besieged and raided homes. It also raided the city of Tubas and town of Aqaba, in the northeastern West Bank.
The West Bank has been occupied since it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Palestinians want it to be part of a future independent state, but expanding Jewish settlements and the ongoing Gaza war and have prompted fears Israel’s hard right government plans to formally annex the territory.