JENIN, Palestinian Territories, Nov  10, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Atop a derelict 
building in Jenin, children counted the passing bodies of Palestinian fighters 
being carried to their graves in a mass funeral for militants killed in the 
deadliest Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank since 2005.
       In the city -- long-considered a hotbed of militancy -- 14 people were 
killed in the fighting on Thursday, according to the Palestinian health 
ministry.
       After a day of running battles between masked gunmen and Israeli forces in 
armoured personnel carriers, the streets were pockmarked with holes and strewn 
with bullet casings. 
       From homes and hospital morgues, the bodies of 10 of the victims were 
carried on stretchers by dozens of masked militants firing guns in the air.
       "We don't live like the rest of the people," said Hayat Amorri, 38, roaming 
the still smouldering wreck of her home, damaged in the raid.
       The Israeli army said "during the counterterrorism activity, forces 
exchanged fire with armed terrorists, over 10 terrorists were killed, and over 
20 wanted suspects were apprehended".
       
       - 'Day after day' - 
    
       
       The 14 dead in Jenin on Thursday is the highest toll from a single raid in 
the West Bank since 2005, according to UN figures.
       Tensions in the Palestinian territory have boiled over with a sharp 
increase in Israeli raids since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on 
Israel from Gaza on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people, according 
to Israeli officials.
       In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, relentlessly bombing the 
Gaza Strip and sending in ground troops. More than 11,000 people, also mostly 
civilians, have been killed, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
       In the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, more than 180 Palestinians 
have been killed since the war's start, according to the Palestinian health 
ministry. Three Israelis were slain in the same period, officials say.
       "Day after day, there is an assault, inside the city, inside the camp, in 
the villages. We are never safe," said 39-year-old Salam Hussein, leading three 
children through the rubble of a razed street in Jenin.
       A neighbourhood chicken coop was smashed, a washing line mangled in the 
fighting, and the blackened clothes strewn on the ground.
       A young boy posed for a photo, flashing a peace sign beside a memorial to a 
previously killed militant, wrecked in Thursday's battle. 
       The destroyed tribute showed only the militant's grin and his arms 
clutching an assault rifle.
       "We go out with our children under the shelling, under the bombs. We 
miraculously survive," said Hussein.
       "Nobody can live a normal life."
       
       - 'Tired psychologically' - 
    
       
       Across the entire West Bank, a total of 18 Palestinians were killed on 
Thursday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
       The militant funeral, attended by a few thousand, ended at the same patch 
of ground where others were buried after another raid last week.
       Men passed breeze blocks overhead to cover the newest graves, before the 
crowds flowed back into a city once again wracked by fighting.
       "We are tired psychologically," 50-year-old Naseer Saadi said earlier in 
the day, clearing his street with a hoe. 
       "We only see destruction, they do nothing else, and this is like this every 
day."
       "Why do they come here?" asked the 50-year-old. "We are not Hamas in Gaza."