RAMALLAH: Israeli troops backed by the air force raided a town in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, touching off clashes in which at least six Palestinians were killed, medics and local media said.

The Israeli army and police said their forces, sent into Tulkarm to detain suspected, came under fire and killed several Palestinian gunmen in the ensuing skirmish.

An Israeli air strike hit a group of Palestinians who shot and threw a bomb at the group, the army and police statement added.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the air strike was carried out by a drone and killed three people.

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There was no word of any Israeli casualties in the incident.

None of the fatalities were immediately claimed by armed factions that Israel has been striking with increasing intensity in the occupied West Bank as it wages war on Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, another area where Palestinians seek statehood.

Anger over the fighting has risen in the occupied West Bank and many parts of the Arab world with growing calls for a Gaza ceasefire.