QABATIYAH, Palestinian Territories: Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation near Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli security forces said.

In Jenin itself, another two people were killed in an Israeli operation, the Palestinian health ministry and Red Crescent said, with another nine wounded by bullets or fire from drones.

The Israeli military has not yet acknowledged carrying out an operation in Jenin.

Earlier, a joint statement from the army, police and Shin Bet security agency said three fighters died in an exchange of fire in Qabatiyah, where undercover border police attempted to arrest a wanted man.

The Israeli forces came under fire from a building where the suspect, Raed Hanaysha, was hiding, before killing him and "two armed terrorists", the statement said.

The Israeli army said it seized weapons from the scene, "destroyed two bomb-making labs", and that its forces were still active in the area.

AFP journalists on the scene said the Israelis used heavy machinery to destroy a farm building and a house.

"Around 20 Israeli vehicles came and surrounded the men, and they assassinated Raed, Suleiman and Bilal's son," relative Jamal Hanaysha, told AFP.

"They took them away, destroyed the house with everyone inside, and then left," he added.

Local governor Kamal Abu al-Rub, citing the liaison office between Israeli and Palestinian authorities in the West Bank, said: "There are three bodies of martyrs that are now with the Israeli side, after they killed them."

The Palestinian health ministry said the District Coordination Office had also informed it of the deaths of "three young men shot by Israeli forces near Qabatiyah", which is in the Jenin governorate.

The three men were aged between 24 and 32, a ministry statement said, identifying Raed Hanaysha as one of them.

Israeli security forces said Hanaysha had been involved "in shooting and bombing attacks" against the army.

Violence in the West Bank, particularly in the north, has soared since the war in Gaza broke out on Oct 7 last year.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 773 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.

 -AFP