West Bank: Israeli forces in occupied West Bank killed five Palestinians including militant, in raid that saw seven Israeli security personnel wounded and rare helicopter fire.

Sound of gunfire was heard across Jenin as wounded Palestinians continued to arrive by ambulance at northern West Bank city's Ibn Sina hospital into early afternoon, an AFP journalist said.

Crowds gathered outside Jenin government hospital, as funerals of those killed in 11 hours of fighting began. Palestinian health ministry said five people had been killed and at least 91 others were wounded in violence.

It named four of those killed, 15-year-old Ahmed Saqer, Khaled Assassa 21, Qais Jabareen 21, Ahmad Daraghmeh 19 and Qassam Abu Saria 29. Meanwhile, Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed Abu Saria as fighter for militant group.

Among injured was Palestinian journalist Hazem Nasser, who was hospitalised with gunshot wound, according to Palestinian journalists syndicate.

Jenin's deputy governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub, told AFP  Israeli forces had launched raid at around 4:00am local time.

"Army stormed (Jenin refugee) camp and city after dawn prayer in large numbers and there was intense gunfire," he said. An AFP journalist at scene said Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin at around 15:10 (1210 GMT).

Israeli Army said an armoured vehicle had been hit by "Very unusual and dramatic" explosive device at around 7:10am (0410 GMT), during "Routine activity" to arrest two "Wanted suspects" one affiliated with movement Hamas and other with Islamic Jihad.

Smoke billows from an explosion during an Israeli army raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on June 19, 2023.- AFP

"We had five Israeli border police guys wounded, and two soldiers also lightly wounded," army spokesman Richard Hecht said. "From that point, we had to extract our injured."

"It will take a few hours, it's going to be pretty harsh, there is a lot of fire," he added in the early afternoon.

The army said that an Apache helicopter had fired missiles in support of the soldiers, a rare move in the West Bank.

United Nations rights Chief Volker Turk said he was "Extremely worried by deteriorating situation". "Unlawful killings of Palestinians by Israeli security forces have increased, including apparent extrajudicial executions," he added.

Published in The Daily National Courier, June, 19 2023

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.