Israeli troops killed a youth at a hospital and read out Jewish prayers at a mosque in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during raids that Palestinian authorities said on Thursday killed 12 people. Israel claimed it captured dozens of fighters.
According to Reuters, the Palestinian government criticised the operation inside Jenin as a “dangerous escalation” and in a statement said the desecration of the mosque by some Israeli troops fanned religious tension.
Israel’s army said it would discipline the soldiers and that they were “immediately removed from operation activity”.
Palestinians see the West Bank as central to a future independent state. Allies of Israel backing its offensive against Hamas fighters in Israeli-occupied Gaza have urged restraint, including punishing Israeli settlers in the West Bank accused of armed attacks on Palestinians.
