Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinians in West Bank

TULKAREM, Palestine — Israeli occupation forces killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Palestinian health ministry named the two men killed as Abdul Rahman Atta, 23, and Huthaifa Faris, 27, saying they had died as a result of "occupation (Israeli) bullets" near Tulkarem.

Hamas said the two Palestinians killed were members of its armed wing.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces "prevented our crews from treating them and took them away" from the scene at a Shufa checkpoint.

Following the shootings, Palestinians gathered on a road around bloodstains which had been marked out by leaves arranged in a heart shape on the ground.

Violence also rocked the Tulkarem refugee camp during a raid by Israeli forces.

Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group said their fighters ambushed Israeli forces in Tulkarem, using improvised explosive devices.

A surge in violence has hit the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict.

So far this year at least 245 Palestinians according to Palestinian officials.