Eight Palestinians killed in West Bank clashes with Israeli forces

Eight Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday.

Clashes were still taking places between the Israeli army and a number of gunmen at the camp, witnesses said.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the latest flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israel is preparing a ground assault in the Gaza Strip in response to a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that killed at least 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7.

Israeli forces have carried out their fiercest bombardment of Gaza in response, killing more than 3,000 Palestinians and imposing a total siege on the blockaded enclave that Hamas controls, fuelling anger among Palestinians in the West Bank.

The West Bank is home to the Palestinian Authority (PA) which is dominated by Hamas rivals Fatah and 87-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

It borders Jerusalem, which houses sites sacred to Muslims, Christians and Jews and is a flashpoint for internecine violence. Hamas announced its Oct. 7 attack in part as revenge for Israeli attacks on Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's old city.