Palestinian fighters killed in mosque in West Bank as Israeli assault continues

The Israeli military said it had killed five Palestinian fighters inside a mosque in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, in the midst of one of the largest assaults on the occupied territory for months.

- Sufian Taha

The overall toll of 16 Palestinians killed in less than two days would make it the deadliest Israeli operation in the West Bank since the 7 October Hamas attack in Israel, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and ignited the Gaza war.

The latest fighting came as Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said yesterday that he had formally asked the bloc's members to consider imposing sanctions on some Israeli ministers for "hate messages" against Palestinians that he said broke international law.

Borrell did not name the Israeli ministers to whom he was referring, nor specify which messages he meant. But in recent weeks he has publicly criticised Israel's security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, for statements he described as "sinister" and "an incitement to war crimes".

The second day of the Israeli operation, in which as many as three brigades of troops have been deployed in several major West Bank cities backed by helicopters, drones and armoured personnel carriers, also included raids in the northern city of Jenin and in the Jordan valley.

Inside Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm, residents said Israeli troops had gone from house to house, detaining Palestinian men as they went.