Israel launches deadly raids on West Bank cities

Armoured vehicles enter refugee camps; Palestinians say Israeli forces killed 10

Israel launched a large-scale military operation on Aug 28 in the occupied West Bank, where the army said it had killed nine Palestinian fighters.

Violence has surged in the West Bank during the Gaza conflict sparked by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' unprecedented Oct 7 attacks on Israel.

The war has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry. It has also caused widespread destruction in the Palestinian territory, displaced nearly all of its 2.4 million people at least once, and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

In the West Bank in the early hours of Aug 28, the Israeli military launched a series of coordinated raids across four cities - Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarem.

Columns of Israeli armoured vehicles entered two refugee two refugee camps, in Tulkarem and Tubas, as well as Jenin. By midday, they were blocking entrances to the towns and camps, AFP photographers said, with soldiers firing at the camps, from which gunfire and explosions were heard.

Israeli bulldozers dug up the asphalt from the streets, with the army saying it was looking for roadside bombs.

The army said it was carrying out a "counter-terrorism operation" involving air strikes, ground forces and bulldozers.