RAMALLAH, Palestine

Seven Palestinians were killed in Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, according to the Health Ministry.

A ministry statement said the bodies of six slain Palestinians were admitted to Tulkarm Hospital in the northern West Bank.

Israeli forces raided the town of Azzun east of Qalqilya and the Tulkarm and Dheisheh refugee camps early Wednesday, eyewitnesses said.

Several houses were searched in Tulkarm by Israeli forces, which detained a number of Palestinians before withdrawing from the area after an 8-hour military raid, they said.

A 30-year-old man was also killed by Israeli army fire in Azzun, a local medical source said.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank amid an Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

According to the Health Ministry, at least 225 Palestinians have been killed and around 2,850 others injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since Oct. 7.

*Writing by Ziad Aslan in Ankara