By Awad al-Rujoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - An overnight Israeli drone strike on Tuesday killed four Palestinians in the Nour Shams refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the Health Ministry identified the slain Palestinians as Yazid Sa’ad Adel Shafe’, 22, Nemer Anwar Ahmad Hamarsheh, 25, Mohammed Yasir Raja Shahadeh, 20 and Mohammed Hassan Ghanem Knoh, 22.
The Palestinian official news agency Wafa said a huge explosion was heard across the city of Tulkarem, where the refugee camp is located, from the drone missile that targeted the middle of the camp.
National and Islamic factions in Tulkarem mourned the "martyrs of Nour Shams refugee camp" and declared a general strike in Tulkarem on Wednesday, Wafa added.
Separately, six Palestinians, including three shot with live ammunition, were injured in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers who frequently carry out attacks and assaults on the town.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has carried out regular raids in the West Bank, which escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza last Oct. 7. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.
At least 560 Palestinians, including 136 children, have since been killed and nearly 5,300 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara