Two Israeli airstrikes in the northern West Bank killed nine Palestinian militants on Saturday, the Israeli military said, as tensions over the Gaza war continued.
The Israeli military said its forces struck a vehicle early in the morning in a rural area northwest of the town of Tulkarem, killing the five passengers inside. The military said they were planning to launch an attack.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said the bodies of those killed were taken to a nearby hospital. Hamas later identified the five as militants of the group, including a local commander.
Later on Saturday, the Israeli army said it killed four more Palestinian militants in the Tulkarem area shortly after they opened fire on Israeli troops operating in the area, but gave no further details.
More than 590 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are active in the city of Tulkarem. The latest attacks come days after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early Wednesday and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut the night before.
The escalation has caused concern about the risk of expanding the conflict in the region. Iran and its affiliated groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, have vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has confirmed it killed Shukuri, but has neither confirmed nor denied it played a role in Haniyeh's murder.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh was killed in a short-range strike and accused the United States of supporting the attack.
The Pentagon said late Friday that the US military will deploy an additional fighter jet to the Middle East and keep an aircraft carrier in the region.
A day earlier, President Joe Biden said he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the opportunity for a ceasefire with Hamas, adding that Haniyeh's killing had “not helped” efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
