JENIN, West Bank: Israeli forces killed three Palestinians, including at least one activist, during a pre-dawn raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinians said, as a months-long wave of violence continued.
The Israeli military said that soldiers had operated around the city of Jenin to arrest two Palestinian men.
During the arrest raid, it said soldiers were "targeted with direct fire and responded with live fire, hits were identified".
The Islamic Jihad claimed one of the men killed as a member and his body was seen wrapped in the group's flag at his funeral.
Residents said two of the dead men were known in the city as armed fighters, although they were apparently not the suspects the military had been seeking. The third man was a civilian who was passing by at the time of the shooting, residents said.
Ghassan al Saadi, who said he witnessed the incident, said he saw Israeli snipers shoot at cars ahead of him. He said Israeli forces also fired at ambulances when they arrived at the scene to remove two men who lay prone on the ground. The Israeli military said it was not aware of such reports.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have deteriorated sharply this year, with Israeli forces staging repeated raids in the West Bank following a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis that killed 19 people in the spring.
Israel seized the West Bank in 1967 along with Gaza and East Jerusalem. All efforts to secure lasting peace and the creation of a Palestinian state on occupied territory have failed, with no prospects of negotiations resuming any time soon.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed this year. The tally includes militants and civilians, as well as deaths in Gaza during a brief conflict in August.
In the same period, Israeli authorities say 23 civilians and eight security personnel have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank.
RIGHT-WING ALLIANCE
Israel's incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a parliamentary majority on Thursday after his Likud party said it had reached an agreement with the Jewish ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
Netanyahu's right-wing alliance won a comfortable victory in a November 1 election, Israel's fifth in less than four years. His partnership with far-right parties has stirred concern at home and abroad.
"We have completed another step towards the formation of a right-wing government that will act to serve all of Israel's citizens," Netanyahu said in the statement.
The agreement with Shas gives Netanyahu control over 64 of the Knesset's 120 seats, though a final coalition deal has yet to be signed.
According to the agreement, Shas leader Aryeh Deri will head the interior and health ministries during the first half of the government's term, then take up the finance ministry in the second half. Deri will also serve as deputy prime minister throughout Netanyahu's tenure.
Deri, a veteran politician, was convicted of tax fraud last year but spared jail under a plea deal. The Knesset will have to pass legislation that would enable his return to the cabinet. - Agencies
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
