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The Israeli military said that security forces on an operation
to arrest a wanted gunman from of the Islamic Jihad militant
group, came under Palestinian fire.
"Dozens of Palestinians threw explosives and Molotov cocktails
at the forces and fired at them. The forces fired at armed
suspects. Hits were identified," the military said on Twitter.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were
killed and 11 were wounded. There was no immediate comment from
the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The latest in a near-daily series of incidents around Jenin, a
militant stronghold, underlined once more the volatile security
climate in the West Bank as Israel heads towards elections on
Nov. 1.
"The more the occupation perpetrates its crimes, the tougher the
resistance will be," Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
More than 70 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank
since the Israel launched its Operation Breakwater against
militants on March 31 in response to a string of fatal
Palestinian street attacks in Israel. The toll includes
militants and civilians.
The surge in violence in the West Bank, where Palestinians have
limited self-rule, has been one of the worst such waves there in
years.
U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian
state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, collapsed in
2014 and show no sign of revival.
Israeli security officials have called on the PA to do more to
rein in violence by gunmen.
However the PA, increasingly unpopular among many in the West
Bank, says its ability to exert its rule has been systematically
undermined by Israel's incursions.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza
and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, editing by Ros Russell)
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