Six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as they demolish a house in major West Bank raid

Six Palestinians were killed during an hours-long raid by Israeli forces on the town of Deir Al-Ghusoun in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, involving a large-scale offensive with bulldozers, drones, missiles, and troops.

Israeli forces encircled a house in the Deir Al-Ghusoun near the city of Tulkarem, trapping people inside. They then brought in a bulldozer to demolish the house, killing those inside who reportedly belonged to a local militia group.

The area had been under siege since Friday night, following 15 hours of armed clashes between local militants and Israeli forces, as reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Five people died inside the house that was demolished, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

Later on Saturday, rescuers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society discovered another body underneath rubble, raising the total death toll to six, Wafa reported.

Israeli forces left the town on Saturday afternoon, leaving behind a wake of destruction and rubble. Emergency teams, including civil defence and ambulance services rushed to the site to search for any survivors.

An Israeli soldier from the counter-terrorism Yamam unit was injured during the operation in Tulkarm, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Video footage shared online by Quds News Network appeared to show Israeli soldiers removing the bodies of three dead Palestinians and loading them into the back of a military truck. Images taken by an AFP photographer on the scene showed a Palestinian man being detained and taken away.

The Israeli army is attacking the town of Deir Al Ghsoun in Tulkarem area in the West Bank. The attack is continuing since 8 hours. pic.twitter.com/uE2JuLlYPr

— Mustafa Barghouti @Mustafa_Barghouti (@MustafaBarghou1) May 4, 2024

Later on Saturday, one Palestinian man, reportedly suffering from gunshot wounds, was rushed to Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital after being shot by Israeli forces in the town of Shweikeh, near Tulkarm.

At least 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks across the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October, according to data from the Palestinian health ministry.

The occupied Palestinian territory has been beset by near-daily clashes between local militia groups, including Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions, and the Israeli army.

Dozens of Palestinians, including children, have been killed and injured during the raids which trap citizens inside and cause widespread destruction to shops, homes and businesses. NGOs and residents have said that the assaults have surged since the start of the Gaza war last October.

A recent BBC investigation found that the Israeli military could have committed a war crime when it shot dead two Palestinian children, aged 15 and 8, in the occupied West Bank in November.