More than 100 Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank since October 7

Palestinian territory has emerged as another front in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Palestinians mourn a man killed during an Israeli strike on Jenin. Israel has used drones in attacks on the occupied West Bank at least three times since the start of the war in Gaza. EPA

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More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since the war erupted between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said.

Violence had already surged in the West Bank before the conflict began, with the death toll in the Palestinian territory at its highest since 2005.

Many of the deaths were the result of raids by the Israeli military, but there has also been an increase in violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, began when militants attacked Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 222 hostages.

Gaza's Health Ministry said on Tuesday that more than 6,500 people had been killed, mostly civilians, as Israel continues its retaliatory bombardment of the enclave.

Since October 7, tensions have surged in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with the Palestinian death toll reaching 102, the Health Ministry in Ramallah said.

The Israeli military has reported one troop death during a raid in that period.

Relatives and militants carry the bodies of Palestinians killed following a drone strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, October 25, 2023. EPA

In the latest violence, four Palestinians were killed in Jenin and one in Qalqilya, both in the northern West Bank. One Palestinian was killed in Qalandia, north of Jerusalem.

The ministry blamed Israeli "bullets and missiles" for the deaths.

The West Bank has emerged as another front in the war with Israel.

The Israeli military said it launched a drone strike on the densely populated Jenin refugee camp, where it said "armed terrorists fired and hurled explosive devices at Israeli security forces".

In Qalqilya, soldiers fired on people who "hurled explosive devices, Molotov cocktails and rocks at the forces", a military spokeswoman told AFP.

Troops also opened fire in Qalandia, which the army said was a response to people who "threw burning tyres, blocks and IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and shot at forces".

The drone attack was at least the third use of Israeli air power in the West Bank since the start of the conflict.

Jenin refugee camp was the focus of a major Israeli military operation this year.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005, before imposing a blockade on the enclave.