JERUSALEM, July 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - An Israeli air strike killed four people in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority said Wednesday, with the Israeli military saying they were a "terrorist cell" planting an explosive device.

The strike took place in the Nur Shams camp, which has seen a surge in violence in recent weeks as Israeli raids and attacks by Israeli settlers have escalated to levels not seen in decades against the backdrop of the Gaza war.

The Palestinian Authority's health ministry said four people had been "killed as a result of the occupation's bombing of Nur Shams camp" near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Telegram that one of its aircraft had "struck a terrorist cell in the area of Nur Shams while they planted an explosive device".

According to the Palestinian official news agency Wafa, the dead were men, aged 20 to 25, killed in a strike by an Israeli drone near the centre of the camp.

Violence in the West Bank, already elevated before the October 7 attack by Hamas that ignited Israel's offensive in Gaza, has spiked since then.

On Monday, a woman and child were killed in an Israeli raid in the Nur Shams camp, according to Palestinian officials, and four others were wounded.

In April, a two-day Israeli raid left 14 people dead in Nur Shams, the Palestinian Red Crescent said at the time.

At least 556 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since the conflict in Gaza began, according to a health ministry tally.

At least 15 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.