3 Palestinians killed, 30 injured in Israeli raid in West Bank

Jerusalem/Ramallah, Sep 20 At least three Palestinians were killed and 30 others injured in an Israeli raid involving a drone attack in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday night, according to media reports and sources of Israel and Palestine.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military confirmed in a statement that the military carried out an operation in the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold located in the northern West Bank, adding that “an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Maoz drone struck the area.”
The forces arrested two Palestinians suspected of involvement in attacks against Israelis. No casualties were reported among the Israeli troops, said the spokesperson.
Palestine’s Ramallah-based Health Ministry also confirmed that “three bodies of young men and 30 injured people were transferred to the local hospital in Jenin,” without revealing the identity of the killed.
Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the Israeli army stormed the Jenin refugee camp and surrounded the house of Mohammed Abu al-Bahaa, a militant of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed organization affiliated with the Fatah party.
They added that Israeli drones carried out airstrikes in the area.
The Jenin-based Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and Jenin Brigades, an armed unit comprised of fighters from different militant groups, said in separate statements that their militants were involved in heavy military clashes with the Israeli army, without providing further details.
Israel’s Army Radio reported that “riots” began as the troops entered the refugee camp, with Israeli troops trading gunfire with armed Palestinians.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement that army troops and agents with the Shin Bet internal security agency got involved in the raid that aims to “thwart terrorist activities.”
Earlier in the day, a 25-year-old Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire near the fence in the Gaza Strip in a protest that began after Israel shut down the Erez Crossing, the only pedestrian crossing between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave.
It was the latest violence amid a year and a half of escalating tensions mainly caused by frequent Israeli raids in the West Bank.