RAMALLAH, Palestine

Two Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army near the Tulkarem city in the northern West Bank on Tuesday.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two as Abdel-Fattah Salahaddin and Ahmed Rajab, both from the Tulkarem refugee camp.

It added that the Israeli army held their bodies.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian car near an Israeli military checkpoint in western Tulkarem.

The Israeli army prevented the ambulance teams from reaching the site of the shooting, the witnesses added.

The coordination committee of the Palestinian groups in Tulkarem announced a day of mourning over the killing of the two Palestinians.

On Monday evening, three Palestinians were killed by the Israeli forces in Nablus city, bringing the toll in less than 24 hours to five.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip after an attack by the Hamas group on Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 527 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,000 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara.