Amid rising tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, 10 more Palestinians were killed in a search operation by the Israeli army in the West Bank on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by the Israeli army:
A terrorist group recently opened fire on a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
We received information that 3 Po were hiding in the West Bank city of Nablus after missing the group.
Then we surrounded the area where they were hiding and asked them to surrender in order to catch them. But they refused to accept it and fired a gun.
After that, a gunfight broke out between them and the Israeli soldiers. The army said that the three accused were shot dead.
The Palestinian authorities said that 10 people, including a 72-year-old man, were killed and 102 people were injured in this daring search in broad daylight.
Buildings in the area were heavily damaged in this incident.
Concerns have been raised that the intensity and the high casualty of this military operation will set back efforts to ease tensions between Israel and Palestine.
Tensions between Israeli security forces and Palestinians have been high since early last month.
More than 40 Palestinians and about 7 Israelis were killed in the sporadic clashes.
In this context, 9 people, including a 60-year-old woman, died in a search operation conducted by the Israeli army last month in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. This caused great turmoil in Palestine.
In retaliation, Irua was killed by Palestinian firing at a Jewish place of worship in Jerusalem.
Following this, another refugee camp was attacked by the Israeli army earlier this month, killing 5 people.
Palestinian organizations are accusing Israel of testing their patience through such actions.
In this context, another search operation conducted by the Israeli army on Wednesday resulted in high number of casualties and it is feared that the tension in the region will increase further.