RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, May 16, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli troops shot and killed three men during clashes in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said early Thursday.

Several others were injured during the confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinian activists in the town of Tulkarm in the northwest of the territory, the Palestinian Authority's health ministry told AFP.

"3 martyrs shot by the occupation forces in Tulkarm," the ministry said.
It identified those killed as Ayman Ahmad Mubarak, 26, Husam Imad Daabas, 22 and Mohammed Yusif Nasrallah, 27.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the three men were killed during an Israeli raid on the town shortly after midnight.

Earlier in the day, the health ministry said Israeli troops killed a young man at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramallah shortly after the annual march marking what Palestinians call the Nakba, or "catastrophe" of 1948.

Thousands marched across the West Bank to commemorate the 76th anniversary of when around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the war that led to Israel's creation.
 
This week's anniversary comes against the backdrop of the war raging in Gaza, which has displaced most of the strip's population.

Violence has surged in the West Bank after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 35,233 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Including the three deaths announced Thursday, at least 502 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry's count.

At least 20 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.