Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Tammun on Thursday, the military said, accusing the men of preparing an attack.
In a joint operation, special forces from the border police, the army and the Shin Bet security agency “eliminated a terrorist cell that was planning to carry out an imminent terrorist attack”, the military said in a statement.
The military said the two Palestinians were suspected of planning to carry out “shooting and explosive attacks” from the village, and were affiliated to Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally.
It added that Israeli forces shot and killed the two men after encircling the building in which they had sought refuge.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
The Palestinian health ministry in the territory said it had been notified of the men’s deaths and identified them as Mohammed Suleiman, 29, and Alaa Joudat, 20.
It said Israeli forces still had Suleiman and Joudat’s bodies.
Tammun mayor Sameer Bisharat told AFP the two men were relatives, and were killed in a greenhouse in the east of the village after Israeli forces entered at around 1:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday).
Tammun lies in a rural district of the northern West Bank where greenhouses are common.
In January, an Israeli drone strike killed two children and a 23-year-old relative in Tammun, AFP reported at the time. The army said it struck a “terrorist cell”.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.
Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 983 Palestinians in the West Bank, including many militants, according to health ministry figures.
Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including members of security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.
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© Agence France-Presse
