Israeli troops kill 5 Palestinian gunmen in raid

AQABAT JABR, West Bank  — Israeli forces killed five Palestinian gunmen in a raid on a West Bank refugee camp on Monday, Israeli security officials said, in a response to a botched attack on Israelis that was likely to further exacerbate tensions in the region.

The Palestinian Health Ministry did not immediately confirm the deaths, saying only that three were injured, one of them critically.

The violence comes amid one of the deadliest periods in recent years in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in the first weeks of Israel’s new government, its most right-wing ever, which has promised to take a tough stance against the Palestinians.

The Israeli military said it was operating in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp to apprehend the suspects behind a failed shooting attack last month at a West Bank restaurant, where attackers allegedly were thwarted by a weapon malfunction. The attackers then fled the scene, the military said, adding that they were members of the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip and has elements in the West Bank as well.

The military said it was searching Monday for the militant cell behind the shooting that it said had sealed itself inside a home in the refugee camp. During the search, troops encountered the gunmen and a gun battle erupted. The military said several of the gunmen who were killed were involved in the attempted attack on the restaurant.

The Israeli security officials said two of the five killed were Hamas militants involved in the attempted attack. The three others were gunmen who had exchanged fire with troops during the raid. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the raid with the media.

Hamas said it mourned the deaths of the members of its armed wing, without specifying how many had died. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the violence would be met with a response.

“Our people and their resistance will not delay in responding to this crime,” he said.

The raid comes days after an earlier incursion in the Aqabat Jabr camp, which is near the Palestinian city of Jericho, a desert oasis in an area of the West Bank that rarely sees such unrest, where troops were also searching for the suspects.