At least five Palestinian citizens were killed and several others were injured by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at early morning hours on Sunday during raids and armed clashes in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
According to the Hebrew media the Palestinians were killed Sunday by Israeli military fire in an operation to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank.
Three Palestinians were killed by IOF fire in the village of Beit Anan near the town of Bidu in the northwest of Jerusalem and two others were killed in Burqin in western Jenin.
According to the IOF the first exchange of fire took place in Jenin shortly after midnight as Israeli forces detained an armed Palestinian. It was followed by a pursuit of another armed Palestinian in the northern West Bank village of Kafr Dan.
The IOF also carried out three arrests in Qabatiya and in Burqin where Palestinians opened fire at soldiers.
Later the IOF announced that two soldiers were seriously wounded during the raid that took place in Burqin Jenin.
The Jenin City mayor for his part said that two Palestinians were killed and eight others were injured during the IOF operation in Jenin. One of the martyrs identified as Osama Soboh was shot in his head.
Eyewitnesses told a reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (IOF) that the IOF rounded up a wounded citizen after encircling and raiding the house of Mohamed in az-Zareini in Burqin town west of Jenin.
They added that an exchange of fire happened with soldiers before they kidnaped a citizen from the house in the town after storming and ransacking it.
They also said that the IOF chased others for hours in a nearby hilly area.
