RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Dec 17, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli forces killed five Palestinians Sunday morning at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the Israeli army launched air strikes on the camp.

The death toll from the raid on the Nur Shams camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem climbed to five after the announcement of the deaths of two men aged 19 and 21 in hospital, the ministry said.

The Israeli operation at the camp began during the night, according to witnesses.

The director of the Thabet Thabet hospital, Amin Khader, told AFP that "five people arrived at the hospital with wounds, including one to the head".

An Israeli military spokesperson said air strikes had targeted "terrorist groups who opened fire and threw explosives, putting IDF (army) forces in danger".

"At least four terrorists were killed and others were injured" during the raid, the spokesperson said, adding that four others were arrested.

"During searches, combatants found a bomb in a clinic where wanted people were hiding," the spokesperson added.

Violence in the West Bank has spiked since the start of Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

More than 290 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the war erupted on October 7, health officials say.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Jenin in particular has been the scene of repeated raids in recent months that have left dozens dead.

The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, which killed about 1,140 people, according to the Israeli authorities' latest figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed 18,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Hamas government.