Three Israeli police officers, including a woman, were killed today in an “armed attack” in the southern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as announced by the commander of the Israeli police in the Palestinian territory where the Israeli army has launched a “huge” anti-terrorist operation.

Commander Uzi Levy made these statements in front of reporters alongside National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right settler.

“Instead of freeing the terrorists, we should put a bullet in their head,” Ben Gvir said.

“The right to life (of Israelis) is more important than the freedom of movement of the residents of the Palestinian Authority,” added the minister, a supporter of the annexation of the entire West Bank.

Two of the victims are in their 30s while the third, a man in his 50s, succumbed to his injuries after being removed from the scene, the Magen David Adom service, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, said.

During the night of Friday to Saturday, two attacks were carried out by Palestinians targeting Jewish settlements in the same area.

Since the start of the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which erupted in retaliation for a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, violence has escalated in the West Bank where some 490,000 Jewish settlers live in settlements amid three million Palestinians .

According to the UN, around 650 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army or settlers since October 7. At least 23 Israelis, including soldiers and police, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

Since last Wednesday, August 28, the Israeli army has been launching raids on several cities and refugee camps in the northern part of the West Bank.

At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in this “anti-terrorist operation” by Israeli strikes, gunfire or fighting, most of them fighters from armed Palestinian organizations, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad.