Israeli drone strike kills two in major ongoing West Bank operation

An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the West Bank town of Qabatiya killed two people, the Palestinian health ministry confirms on what is the fourth day of a large-scale Israeli operation in the nearby city of Jenin launched after the truce in Gaza.

The Israeli military says an airstrike had hit a vehicle with what it said was a “terrorist cell” inside but gave no further details.

The military has been carrying out a major operation in Jenin aiming to crack down on Palestinian terror groups it says are backed by Iran, launched just two days after a ceasefire took effect in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in the operation, Palestinian health officials say, including two claimed by the armed wing of Hamas. The Israeli military says it had also arrested 20 wanted suspects and seized weapons.

Armored bulldozers and diggers have demolished houses and dug up roads in the crowded refugee camp adjacent to Jenin, a major center of armed militant groups, where thousands of people have left their homes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Thameen Al-Kheetan said he was deeply concerned about the use of unlawful lethal force and said the Jenin operation raised serious concerns about unnecessary or disproportionate force.

Israeli officials say the operation in Jenin is part of a multifront war against an axis of Iranian-backed groups in the West Bank, southern Lebanon and Yemen.