The three were killed in the early hours of Monday morning amid a blockade of the Balata refugee camp.
The Israeli army killed three Palestinian men during a massive raid on the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the three men who were killed on Monday morning as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun, 32, Fathi Abu Rizk, 30, and Abdullah Abu Hamdan, 24.
At least seven other Palestinians were wounded, including four with live bullets, and several others suffered from tear gas, according to the ministry.
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and special forces took part in the raid that began at around 1am local time (22:00GMT) and continued until 5:00am (2:00GMT).
Israeli forces blocked the camp’s entrances with bulldozers and destroyed several houses, including with anti-tank grenades, according to residents.
Reporting from the Balata refugee camp, Al Jazeera’s Givara Budeiri said at least seven houses inside the camp were damaged or destroyed.
“Families here remember the 2002 invasion of Nablus. They felt the bullets penetrated everything tonight,” Budeiri said, adding that ambulance crews were also targeted as they tried to access the injured.
Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians during a large-scale attack on the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus early this morning and injured six others, one of them seriously.
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The Israeli army said in a statement that it had arrested three Palestinian men “suspected of being involved” in armed activity and confiscated weapons, but did not comment on the killings. It also said an “explosives laboratory” was found in one of the camp’s apartments.
Monday’s attack followed a car attack near Nablus on Sunday in which an Israeli soldier was wounded.
The Balata refugee camp is the largest in terms of population in the occupied West Bank, where about 30,000 Palestinians live in a high population density of a quarter of a square kilometer.
Israeli forces also raided the Jenin refugee camp north of Nablus on Monday and arrested at least three Palestinian men.
Israel has carried out almost daily attacks and killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since June 2021 in an attempt to suppress a phenomenon of growing armed resistance.
In 2022, Israeli forces killed more than 170 Palestinians, including at least 30 children, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in what was described as the deadliest year for Palestinian residents in places since 2006.
Since the beginning of 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 156 Palestinians, including 26 children. The death toll includes 36 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army during a four-day offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip between May 9 and 13.
