TULKARM, Palestine: Two Palestinian men, including one member of an armed group, were killed in a Zionist raid on Sunday, in the latest Zionist attack in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian health ministry said the two, aged 19 and 36, were pronounced dead from gunshot wounds after the raid in the Tulkarm refugee camp, which the UN says houses over 27,000 Palestinian refugees.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party, identified the elder of the pair as a local commander. His brother also called him “a member of the resistance”, according to AFP.

Palestinian news agency WAFA reported the incursion of an undercover Zionist unit into the Tulkarm refugee camp, accompanied by a large number of military vehicles and an armored bulldozer.

The forces imposed strict restrictions on the refugee camp, as intense confrontations ensued between Palestinian youth and occupation forces who used heavy gunfire, resulting in the murder of Nabil Ata Amer, 19, and the injury of three more Palestinians. Another Palestinian, Mohammad Ahmad al-Oufi, 36, was also shot dead by Zionist occupation forces during the raid, said the agency.

The Ministry of Health, quoting the General Authority of Civil Affairs, said Oufi was killed after being trapped by occupation forces inside his family house in the Tulkarm refugee camp. His body was taken away by the Zionist forces.

The injured individuals were promptly transported to Thabet Governmental Hospital in the city for medical treatment. WAFA said medical personnel were reportedly struggling to attend to the wounded amid the ongoing confrontations, with reports indicating additional injuries inside the camp.

Zionist occupation forces also impeded the arrival of ambulances into the camp, hindering the swift evacuation of those in need, according to local sources and witnesses who spoke to WAFA.

The deaths came with international concern mounting about unrest in the West Bank since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern parts of the Zionist entity. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday described the situation as being at boiling point and warned that “we could be on the eve of a greater explosion,” AFP reported.

The Zionist military said its forces were there to apprehend “a senior wanted suspect” believed to have been involved in attacks on its forces and the “killing of individuals in Tulkarm suspected of cooperating with (Zionist) security forces”.

The suspect was killed by Zionist troops in an exchange of fire, then “armed terrorists opened fire and hurled explosive devices at (Zionist) security forces, who responded with live fire”, the army said in a statement. “During the exchange of fire, a (Zionist) Border Police officer was severely injured” and hospitalized, it added.

The Zionist military has stepped up its near daily raids across the West Bank in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attack. It says the raids are aimed at dismantling Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas. At least 398 Palestinians have been killed by Zionist forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Zionist military said on Friday that since the start of the Gaza war, its troops had arrested more than 3,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 1,350 Hamas members. The Zionist entity captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem — which it later annexed — as well as the Gaza Strip in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Around three million Palestinians live in the territory with roughly 490,000 Zionists in settlements deemed illegal under international law. — Agencies