Israel military says soldier killed in Jenin in Palestine's West Bank

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed and another seriously wounded in an operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday.

Jenin has long been a stronghold for Palestinian fighters, and the Israeli army routinely carries out raids in the city and its adjacent refugee camp.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that a young Palestinian man was wounded in the face by shrapnel during the latest military raid.

Captain Alon Sacgiu, 22, "fell during an operation in the Jenin sector", the military said in a brief statement, without giving details of the circumstances of his death.

Another soldier was seriously wounded and taken to hospital, the military said.

The Times of Israel news website reported that a total of 16 troops had been injured.

Wafa said Israeli troops stormed Jenin shortly before midnight and were deployed until dawn in the city and its outskirts.

Troops "deployed dozens of sniper soldiers on the roofs of commercial buildings and houses and in the neighbourhoods of the city and its commercial centre," the Palestinian agency reported on its English language website.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it had withdrawn from Jenin but gave no further details of its operation.

Witnesses in Jenin told AFP that improvised explosive devices planted on a road used by the army had exploded.

Fighting and exchange of fire could be heard through the night, they added.

At least 553 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since Israel's war on Gaza war began, according to Palestinian officials.

Attacks by Palestinians have killed at least 15 Israelis, including soldiers, in the West Bank over the same period, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

More than 700,000 settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. All Israeli settlements breach international law.