Israeli forces injure 3 in West Bank

Jerusalem, Feb 13 Three Palestin were injured by Israeli forces during an arrest raid in the northern West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

According to a statement released by the Israeli police on Sunday, the troops were carrying out an operation in the city of Jenin and arrested Jibril Zubeidi, an "operative" with the Tanzim, a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement.

He is also a brother of Palestinian resistance icon Zakaria Zubeidi, who led a Hollywood-style escape operation in 2021, in which he and five other Palestinian prisoners tunnelled out of a high-security prison in Israel, the statement added.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the Israeli troops shot three Palestinian youth in the belly, who were rushed to a hospital in a "critical" condition.

In a separate statement, the Israeli Army said "armed individuals fired at the forces who responded with live fire," adding no injuries were among the Israeli troops, Xinhua news agency reported.

Tensions in the region have been rising, sparked by daily Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank. Israel says the raids are aimed at arresting suspects of a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis.