At Least 5 Palestinians Killed During Gunfight in West Bank

TEL AVIV—Israeli military helicopters fired in the direction of Palestinian militants engaged in a fierce gunbattle with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank early Monday, in a violent episode that killed at least five Palestinians and prompted escalatory rhetoric from Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Israeli troops were conducting an arrest of two suspected militants in the West Bank city of Jenin when they came under fire from militants, the Israeli military said. At least seven Israeli troops from the military and police were injured during the fighting, the Israeli military said, including one who was airlifted by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in central Israel, according to the hospital. Among the Palestinians killed was a teenager, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, adding that some of the 91 injured were in critical condition.

While deadly Israeli raids into Palestinian cities have become frequent over the past year, the use of airstrikes is a rare occurrence.

This was the first time the Israeli military used helicopter fire in the West Bank in many years, according to Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, who said Apache helicopters fired at an open area near Palestinian gunmen as a warning shot to give time for the extraction of Israeli troops.

After the suspected militants were arrested, Hecht said the Israeli military convoy came under a barrage of fire and at least one armored Panther vehicle was damaged by an advanced improvised explosive device. He added that it is rare for Israeli forces to encounter advanced IEDs in the West Bank, and that they will “affect how we do business there.”

Hecht said some Israeli vehicles had been damaged by the explosion and Israeli forces operated in Jenin for many hours after the raid started in order to extract them.

Tensions across the occupied West Bank have risen since a series of attacks by Palestinians and Arab Israelis—including several from the Jenin area—left 19 dead inside Israel between March and May 2022. The Israeli army responded by launching Operation Wavebreaker, in which the army stepped up its raids into Palestinian areas to break up suspected militant cells and foil imminent attacks.

Since the start of 2023 over 120 Palestinians, mostly militants but also some civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces and civilians, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials. At least 20 Israelis and foreigners, nearly all civilians, have also been killed by Palestinian attackers, according to a tally by The Wall Street Journal. The rising death toll marks one of the bloodiest periods of the conflict in recent years.

Hussein al-Sheikh, one of the most senior Palestinian officials in the West Bank, said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would convene an emergency meeting Monday to discuss “unprecedented decisions” in response to the Israeli raid.

“A fierce and open war is being waged against the Palestinian people,” Sheikh said. “We are in the midst of a comprehensive battle on all fronts that requires the unity of our people in the face of this aggression.”

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and a senior cabinet member, called on Israel to cease its policy of frequent arrest raids and carry out a broad military operation to root out militants using the air force and armored corps.

“The time has come to replace the tweezer activities with a broad operation to eradicate the nests of terror,” Smotrich tweeted. He said he would demand an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss the issue.

—Fatima AbdulKarim contributed to this article.

Write to Dov Lieber at [email protected]