Pregnant Palestinian killed in Israeli raid in West Bank, ministry says

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH — Two Palestinians, including a pregnant woman, were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as Israel stepped up raids on militants in the area.

The ministry said Israeli forces in Nur Shams in the northern West Bank shot 23-year-old Sundos Jamal Mohammed Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant and whose unborn child did not survive, and critically wounded her husband.

The Israeli military said the incident was being probed by its military police criminal investigation unit.

In a separate statement, the ministry said a 21-year-old Palestinian man had been killed by the Israeli forces.

Details of the deaths were not immediately clear. The Palestinian state news agency cited eyewitnesses as saying that Shalabi and her husband were shot as they were trying to leave their home.

The Israeli military earlier announced it was expanding a counter-terrorism operation in the north of the West Bank to Nur Shams, a historic refugee camp close to the Palestinian town Tulkarm.

Israel's military, police and intelligence services started the counter-terrorism operation in Jenin on January 21, described by officials as a "large-scale and significant military operation."

The operation expanded to Tulkarm, Al Faraa and Tamun, with the military saying it was targeting militants.

Israel, viewing the West Bank as part of a multi-front war against Iranian-backed groups established around its borders, launched the operation after reaching a ceasefire in its war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled West Bank homes in the wake of the military campaign and widespread destruction.

Palestinians have said the Israeli campaign is one of the most destructive in recent memory. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military has said it has killed militants.

This month, the Israeli military released a video of a controlled demolition of buildings in the crowded Jenin refugee camp. It said the 23 buildings were used by militants.

The refugee camp has been a centre of militant activity for decades and the target of repeated Israeli raids. Israeli security forces say militants there have become more sophisticated, alleging they receive support from Iran.

The Israeli security forces launched the operation in the West Bank after the Western-backed Palestinian Authority carried out their own operation in Jenin for more than a month.

Several people were killed and many residents were displaced in that operation, which also targeted local militants. — Reuters