Two Palestinians killed in latest Israeli raid on West Bank city of Jenin

Two Palestinians were killed early on Thursday as Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Jenin on the sixth day of attacks in the occupied territory, the Palestinian health ministry said.

"Two youths died of injuries sustained in an Israeli attack in the Jenin district," the ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli army said it had been "continuing recent counterterrorism activities", a week after a Jenin man killed three people in Tel Aviv, without commenting on the latest Palestinian deaths.

Israel has increased its raids and is fotifying its separation wall, built deep within the occupied territory, after attacks by Palestinians within the 1948 borders killed 14 Israelis in the past three weeks.

Two Palestinian teenagers were also killed in the West Bank on Wednesday, near the towns of Bethlehem and Ramallah. The victims were identified as Qusai Fuad Hamamra and Amer Elyan.

A total of 20 Palestinians have been killed since 22 March, according to an AFP tally.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has given Israeli forces a free hand in the West Bank, which Israel has illegally occupied since the 1967 war, warning that there would "not be limits" for this war.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Wednesday that Israeli soldiers "murder for the sake of murder without the slightest regard for international law".

Rights groups have condemned Israeli forces for showing "appalling disregard for human life" by using "reckless and unlawful lethal force" against Palestinians.

The latest major attack Israel suffered was the shooting rampage last Thursday in a busy nightlife area of the coastal city of Tel Aviv, that claimed three lives and wounded over a dozen more.

The gunman, a 28-year-old man from Jenin, died in a shootout with Israeli forces following an all-night manhunt.

The escalation of violence comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and ahead of the start of the Jewish festival of Passover on Friday, an overlap that can heighten tensions around sacred sites in Jerusalem's Old City.

Last year Hamas, Israel amplified its aggression on the besieged Gaza Stip, where more than 200 people were killed, in a devastating 11-day war.