At least eight Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded as Israel launched a large-scale military campaign in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin early on Monday.
Four were killed from gunshot wounds and identified as Sameeh Abu Al-Wafa, Hosam Abu Theba, Aws al-Hanoun and Nour-eddin Marshoud. At least three died in air strikes.
A ninth Palestinian, 21-year-old Mohammad Hasanein, was killed overnight on Monday by the Israeli army at the northern entrance to the city of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.
An official at the Jenin Government Hospital said the attack was one of the worst in years, adding: “We have not received this number of serious injuries since 2002.”
Residents said Israel launched at least 10 air attacks in Jenin overnight on Monday, sending smoke billowing from the wreckage of buildings.
Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Palestine, said she was “alarmed by the scale of Israeli forces operation” in Jenin.
“Air strikes were used in the densely populated refugee camp. Several dead and critically wounded. Access to all injured must be ensured,” she said on Twitter.
Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin, told AFP there was “bombing from the air and an invasion from the ground.”
“Several houses and sites have been bombed…. smoke is rising from everywhere.”
Earlier in the morning, the Israeli military said in a statement it was conducting  a “focused” and “extensive counterterrorism effort” in the Jenin area.
