The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced, on Monday, that five Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire in the occupied West Bank, which has witnessed an escalation of violence since the outbreak of war between the Hebrew state and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.

The ministry said in a brief statement: “Three martyrs and one critically injured person arrived at Tulkarm Governmental Hospital.”

However, the Ministry returned and announced “the arrival of a fourth martyr from the same assassination operation committed by the occupation forces, and the stabilization of the health condition of the wounded person, who is a 14-year-old child who was shot in the chest.”

The Ministry had announced, on Monday morning, “a young man was killed and 3 others were seriously injured by Israeli occupation bullets in Halhul,” near the city of Hebron

Sources in Hebron said that “confrontations took place between young men and the Israeli army, which was conducting an arrest operation in the town, and resulted in the killing of the young man, Muhammad al-Atrash, and the wounding of 3 others with live bullets in the thigh.”

Eyewitnesses in Tulkarm confirmed that the vehicle in which the armed young men were traveling was stopped on a street north of the city by a vehicle bearing a Palestinian license plate, which later turned out to be carrying Israeli soldiers.

The witnesses said: “The soldiers opened fire on the young men.”

The four young men are accused by Israel of leading the Tulkarm Armed Brigade, including Izz al-Din Awad (25 years old), one of the leaders of the “Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades” in the city.

The Ministry announced the names of the other three young men: Moamen Balawi (20 years old), Jihad Shehadeh (22 years old), and Qasim Rajab (20 years old).

Since the war began on October 7, following an unprecedented attack by the Hamas movement inside Israel, tension has escalated in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and its old city.

In the occupied West Bank, more than 150 Palestinians were killed by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health