JERUSALEM—Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian militants Sunday who opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank, the military said.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, claimed the men killed as members.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the men were killed by Israeli fire near the city of Nablus and identified them as Jihad Mohammed al-Shami, 24, Uday Othman al-Shami, 22 and Mohammed Raed Dabeek, 18.
The military said it confiscated three M16 rifles from the militants after the shootout and that one gunman turned himself in and was arrested.
The deaths Sunday bring to 80 the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the year, as Israel has stepped up arrest raids in the West Bank. A spasm of Palestinian attacks against Israelis has killed 14 people in 2023.
The fresh violence follows an Israeli military raid last week on the West Bank village of Jaba, where three Palestinian militants were killed. Hours later, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a busy Tel Aviv thoroughfare at the start of the Israeli weekend, wounding three people before being shot and killed.
