June 16, 2025
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Three Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli army raid in a West Bank refugee camp early Monday, Palestinian officials said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the three men were killed during a raid in Balata, a refugee camp near the city of Nablus. Six people were wounded, including one who was in critical condition, the ministry said. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with connections to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, identified the men killed as its members.
The army confirmed the raid, saying troops came under fire and killed three Palestinians. Three others were arrested there, the army said. Israel has stepped up raids over the past year in response to Palestinian attacks and said Monday's operations netted weapons and an explosives manufacturing operation in a home, which it detonated.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the three killed in Balata on Monday were Fathi Jihad Rizk, 30, Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24, and Muhammad Bilal Zaytoun, 32.
In a separate overnight raid in the northern town of Jenin, the army said two Palestinians were shot and three were arrested when Israeli forces came under attack.
