At least 18 killed in Israeli strike on Tulkarm in West Bank

At least 18 people were killed in the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said late Thursday, following an Israeli air strike in the area.

"Eighteen martyrs following the bombing of the Tulkarm camp by the occupation," the Palestinian health ministry said on its Telegram account.

The Israeli army confirmed the strike on the town in the northern West Bank, describing it as a joint operation carried out by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief statement by the military.

Reached by telephone, camp official Faisal Salama told AFP that the attack had been carried out by an F-16 fighter jet.

Alaa Sroji -- a social activist from the area -- said the Israeli plane had "hit a cafeteria in a four-story building."

"There are many victims in the hospital," the resident added, saying the toll would likely rise.

Tulkarm was one of the towns and Palestinian refugee camps targeted during a large-scale Israeli military operation in late August against militants fighting against Israel in the northern West Bank.

Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside Israel's war on Gaza.

Since 7 October, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 701 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 24 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian militant attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say.

Major Israeli attacks in the West Bank are sometimes occurring "at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades," United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said last month.