Five armed Palestinians have been reportedly killed in an Israeli military operation in Tulkarem in the West Bank, the Israeli army said on Thursday.

The men had barricaded themselves in a mosque, the army said.

It further said there were exchanges of gunfire with soldiers.

One of the deceased was said to be a high-ranking leader of a terrorist network in the local refugee camp, the Israeli military added.

According to the report, Muhhamad Jabber was accused of being involved in several attacks.

In one of these attacks, an Israeli civilian was killed in June, the military reported.

Another militant Palestinian was arrested during the operation in Tulkarem.

An Israeli border soldier was injured.

On Wednesday, Israel commenced a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank.

At least 11 people were killed on Wednesday alone, according to Palestinian sources.

An Israeli army spokesman justified the action, citing the significantly increased number of attacks on Israelis.

At the same time, extremist Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has also increased.

The situation in the West Bank has sharply escalated since the start of the Gaza war.

The war is a culmination of the massacre carried out by the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas and others in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Since then, 635 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks.

This is according to the Health Ministry in the West Bank.

Israel took control of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Although Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, it continued to control its borders by land, air and sea.

The Palestinians claimed these areas for their own state.

(dpa/NAN)