RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday killed five Palestinians, while the Israeli military said it hit a “terrorist cell”.

The five people were killed “as a result of Israeli air strikes (on) a group of citizens in Tubas,” Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman Ahmed Jibril told AFP, adding that the dead were “transferred to the Turkiye government hospital in Tubas”.

According to the Red Crescent, the drone fire occurred near a mosque in the Tubas region around dawn.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that its forces were “currently conducting counterterrorism activity in the area of Tubas and Tamun” and that one of its aircraft “struck an armed terrorist cell” during an operation in Tubas in the northern West Bank. It did not provide any toll.

An eyewitness told AFP that Israeli forces were “storming the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun to the east”.

At the end of August, Israel launched a large-scale offensive across the northern West Bank, including the Tubas area, fighting Palestinian and leaving widespread destruction.

Last week, Palestinian medics said an Israeli air strike on a car in Tubas killed five people.

The Israeli army said at the time it had conducted “three targeted strikes on armed terrorists” and that the dead included Muhammad Zakaria Zubeidi, “a significant terrorist from the Jenin area”, also in the northern West Bank.

Israel launches deadly West Bank operation as Gaza war drags on

Israel has occupied the occupied West Bank since 1967 and has ramped up deadly raids in the territory since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 698 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli military and settlers since October 7.

At least 23 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the territory during the same period, according to Israeli officials.