Israeli military kills three Palestinians in West Bank, health ministry says

Lebanon’s prime minister has expressed hope that a ceasefire deal with Israel could be reached within days

A Palestinian woman walks amid rubble, after an Israeli military operation in Nur Shams camp earlier this year
A Palestinian woman walks amid rubble, after an Israeli military operation in Nur Shams camp earlier this year

Israeli strikes on the West Bank’s Nur Shams refugee camp on Thursday killed two Palestinians including a child, the Palestinian health ministry reported.

One Palestinian was shot and killed by the Israeli army overnight in West Bank's refugee camp of Tulkarm, the health ministry added.

The Israeli army said on Thursday it is conducting an operation targeting "terrorist infrastructure" in Nur Shams.

Israel says it is ready to pursue diplomatic solution in Lebanon. But what does this mean?Opens in new window ]

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said a large number of Israeli vehicles and heavy bulldozers stormed the city and headed towards the Nur Shams refugee camp.

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Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said in a statement they detonated a highly explosive bomb in a military bulldozer to thwart the Israeli army’s raid.

At least 93 people were killed or missing on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip, followed by further bombardments that killed at least 30 people on Wednesday.

Northern Gaza, where Israel said in January it had dismantled militant group Hamas’s command structure, is the focus of the military’s assault. It sent tanks into Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia earlier this month to flush out Hamas fighters who it said had regrouped in the area.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s prime minister has expressed hope that a ceasefire deal with Israel could be reached within days, after Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem said the militant group could agree to a possible truce under certain parameters.

In his first public comments a day after being named to replace former longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem said however that Israel had yet to agree to any proposal that could be discussed, and that the Iran-backed group will keep fighting until it is offered terms it deems acceptable.

“If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable,” Qassem said, speaking from an undisclosed location in a pre-recorded televised address. “We will not beg for a ceasefire.”

It came as Israel’s security cabinet met to discuss a possible truce. - Reuters and Guardian

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