JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities said they had killed three Palestinian militants early on Tuesday during an operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police said the three men were shot as they came out of a cave near Jenin, a town in the northern West Bank known as a militant stronghold. The Israeli military said in a statement that the militants “took part in terror activity in Jenin,” but gave no further details.
Two militants where shot and killed in the initial volley of gunfire. The third, who was wounded, was killed shortly after, according to the Israeli military.
An earlier statement said the Israeli military carried out an airstrike shortly afterward to destroy the cave. The army confirmed an airstrike in the area but gave no further details.
Israel has stepped up its military activity in the occupied West Bank since the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel says the operations have cracked down on militants in the West Bank. But Palestinians and human rights groups say scores of uninvolved civilians have also been among the dead, while tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza has been holding since it began on Oct. 10. Late on Monday, the Israeli military said the remains of another hostage had been returned to Israel as called for under the agreement.
Since the truce started, Hamas has handed back the remains of 16 hostages to Israel. Another 12 bodies still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over.
In exchange for the returned dead hostages, Israel has so far handed back to Gaza 195 Palestinian bodies, fewer than half of which have been identified.
On Monday, 41 unidentified bodies were buried in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah and a funeral was held in Israel for the slain hostage Yossi Sharabi, whose remains were returned earlier this month.
Over the weekend, Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help search for the bodies of hostages still in Gaza. That work continued Monday in Khan Younis.
The last 20 living hostages were returned to Israel when the ceasefire began, and in exchange Israel freed roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Most of those freed were seized in Gaza by Israeli troops during the two-year war and have been held without charge. Also among those released were 250 Palestinians sentenced to prison terms, most of them convicted for deadly attacks on Israelis dating back decades, according to Israel’s Justice Ministry.
