Palestinian officials say five people killed in Israeli strikes in occupied West Bank

Palestinian health officials said five people were killed in Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank, including the son of a prominent imprisoned militant.

Israel has carried out large-scale raids in the area over the past week, which it says are aimed at breaking up militant groups and preventing attacks. Palestinians fear an escalation of the war in Gaza.

Five people, including Mohammed Zubeidi, were killed in overnight attacks in the northern West Bank town of Tubas, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday.

His father, Zakaria Zubeidi, was a well-known militant commander during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s and took part in a rare prison break in 2021 before being arrested and returned to prison a few days later.

The Israeli military said it carried out three airstrikes in Tubas against militants who threatened its soldiers.

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Palestinian authorities say Israeli attack on tent camp kills 4 men and injures 2 children

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Palestinian health officials say four men were killed and two children injured in an Israeli attack on a tent camp.

The attack early Thursday hit a camp near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah. Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures and an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a targeted attack on a command and control center belonging to Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad, which was stationed in a humanitarian zone.

The war, which has lasted almost eleven months, has forced around 90 percent of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million inhabitants to flee, often multiple times. Israel has ordered mass evacuations to so-called humanitarian zones, but occasionally carries out attacks there.

A woman who identified herself as Umm Mohammed Wadi said she was living in a tent near the site of the attack.

“What did they do to be hit in their sleep?” she asked. “No hospital is safe, no school and no home.”

Israel says it is targeting only militants and is trying not to harm civilians.

Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 40,861 Palestinians have been killed and over 94,000 injured since the war began. The casualty figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The war began after Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping around 250. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed dead, after most of the others were released during a ceasefire in November.