Destructive Israeli Raid in West Bank Kills 5, Palestinians Say

The Israeli military said on Friday that it had concluded a raid in the occupied West Bank overnight after killing several militants, in an operation that residents and humanitarian groups said caused significant damage to roads and other civilian infrastructure.The military did not specify the number of fighters killed or their affiliations, but said its soldiers had engaged in “close-quarters combat” in the Nur Shams area on the outskirts of the town of Tulkarm.Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, said Israeli forces had killed at least five people in the area.

It said more than two dozen others had been detained in raids elsewhere in the West Bank, including in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus and Qalqilya.Humanitarian groups and local residents said the raid took a severe toll on the infrastructure of Nur Shams, and on its people, many of whom took shelter in their homes as gunfire was heard in the streets.Nihad Shaweesh, an official in Nur Shams, said soldiers had searched dozens of homes, questioned residents and took up positions in residential buildings.Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, the main United Nations agency that assists Palestinians, said the raid had destroyed “roads, water and electricity networks” in Nur Shams.Historically a refugee camp for Palestinians following the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s establishment, Nur Shams is now a built-up neighborhood.Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting...