Israeli military, Jenin area, West Bank, August 31, 2024. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS

Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.

Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circled overhead while the sound of sporadic firing could be heard in the city.

Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.

The operation, which Israel says was mounted to block Iranian-backed terror groups from attacking its citizens, has drawn international calls for a halt.

At least 19 Palestinians, including terrorists and civilians, have now been killed since it began. The Israeli military said on Saturday a soldier had been killed during the fighting in the West Bank.

The Israeli forces were battling Palestinian fighters from armed factions that have long had a strong presence in Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp, a densely populated township housing families driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war around the creation of Israel.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday a child had been taken to hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.

The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank takes place as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists still rages in the coastal Gaza Strip nearly 11 months since it began, and hostilities with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in the Israel-Lebanon border area have intensified.

Late on Friday, Israeli forces said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank settlement cluster located south of Jerusalem, that the military assessed were both attempted attacks on Israelis.

In the first, a car exploded at a petrol station in what the army said was an attempted car bombing attack. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers.

In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car attempted to ram a security guard and infiltrate the Karmei Tzur settlement. The car was chased by security forces and crashed and an explosive device in it was detonated, the military said in a statement.

The two deaths were confirmed by Palestinian health authorities but they gave no details on how they died.

Troops combed the area following the two incidents. Security forces also carried out raids in the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.

Hamas praised what it called a “double heroic operation” in the West Bank. It said in a statement it was “a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation’s aggression and targeting of our people and land continue”.

The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.

Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday Israel would step up defensive measures as well as offensive actions like the Jenin operation.

Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs have ploughed up large stretches of paved roads and water pipes have been damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.