The dead amount to 15 and at least 20 are injured from raids by Israeli forces on the city of Jenin and the neighboring refugee camp as well as other Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said.

Israel’s military earlier announced it was conducting counter-terrorist operations in Jenin, without elaborating further.

Thick black smoke was billowing over Jenin this afternoon, an AFP reporter said. Many explosions and gunfire testified that the clashes were continuing. The reporter saw a gunman, who had been shot, lying on the ground until another man approached and took his gun to use.

According to the ministry, one Palestinian was killed in a refugee camp near Ramallah, a second in Dura and a third in Beit Fajar, near Hebron.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that one of its rescuers was shot in the back in Jenin when an ambulance was targeted during Israeli army operations.

Since October 7 Israeli forces have arrested more than 1,400 Palestinians in the West Bank and say most of them are affiliated with Hamas.