At least nine Palestinians including an elderly woman have been killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank, reports BBC.
The Palestinian health officials termed the incident the deadliest in years which happened in the flashpoint town of Jenin on Thursday.
The Israeli military said its troops went in to arrest Islamic Jihad militants who had been planning "major attacks".
The Palestinian presidency accused Israel of a "massacre" in the northern town, which has been the scene of repeated raids in recent months.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh released a statement calling on the United Nations and international human rights organisations to “intervene urgently to provide protection for Palestinian people and stop the bloodshed of children, youth and women”
The incursions are part of what the Israeli military describes as an anti-terrorism offensive which began last April.
Heavy gunfire and explosions could be heard in video footage from Jenin refugee camp on Thursday morning, as Israeli troops clashed with Palestinian militants.
The Palestinian health ministry identified three of those killed as Magda Obaid, 60, Saeb Izreiqi, 24, and Izzidin Salahat, 26. Twenty people were also wounded, four of them seriously, it said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops entered Jenin to arrest an Islamic Jihad "terror squad", who it accused of being "heavily involved in planning and executing multiple major terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers".
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