At least 18 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the West Bank town of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Thursday.
The Palestinian Authority-run news agency, Wafa, said the airstrike hit a cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp where many people were present.
Israel’s military said the air force carried out a strike in Tulkarm in cooperation with the Shin Bet security wing and killed the head of Hamas in Tulkarm and “other key terrorists”.
There has been an escalation of violence in the West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Since then more than 700 Palestinians have been killed as the Israeli military has intensified its offensive, which it says is trying to stop deadly attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israel.
The Israeli military has carried out a number of airstrikes in the West Bank over the past year, but mostly using drones or helicopters.
A local resident told AFP that the Israelis “hit a restaurant in a three-story building.”
“There are many victims in the hospital,” added the resident, saying that the death toll may rise.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike killed Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who they said attempted a car bombing last month and supplied weapons.
Wafa quoted a local official as saying that children and elderly people from many families were killed in the strike.
Tulkarm was one of the towns and Palestinian refugee camps targeted during a major Israeli military operation in August.
Last month UN rights chief Volker Turk said Israel’s massive occupation of the West Bank was taking place “on a scale not seen in the last two decades”.
Last year, more than 700 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, said the Ministry of Health in Palestine.
Meanwhile at least 24 Israelis including security personnel were killed by Palestinian attackers at the same time, according to Israeli officials.
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