Seven Palestinians were killed and nine others wounded during an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The ministry identified one of those killed as 50-year-old Dr. Usaid Kamal Jabarin and said he was killed by Israeli gunfire as he was heading to work.
Jabarin had been working as a surgery specialist at Jenin Government Hospital for 17 years, the ministry said.
A student from Al-Karamah School was also killed, and elderly citizens were wounded on their way to work, Wissam Bakr, the director of Jenin Government Hospital, told CNN.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that its security forces had started an operation to “eliminate terror activity in Jenin,” and “hits on armed [terrorists] were detected.”
The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said on Monday its militants were “engaged in violent clashes” with Israeli forces “on all fronts of the advance” in Jenin.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the reported civilian casualties.
Since the start of Israel’s war on Hamas, violence has increasingly spilled over into the West Bank with settler attacks and clashes that have killed Palestinians.
