UPDATE 2 - 18 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on Tulkarem refugee camp in West Bank

REVISES DEATH TOLLL, ADDS ISRAELI ARMY STATEMENT

By Aysar Alais

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - At least 18 Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike late Thursday on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the death toll in a statement. Earlier, the ministry said that 16 people were killed in the attack.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said that “Israeli warplanes struck a popular cafe in the Al-Hamam neighborhood of the Tulkarem camp with at least one missile while several civilians were present.”

Rescue services, including civil defense and ambulances, rushed to the scene and transported the bodies of those killed and injured to Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarem, according to the news agency.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams transported the bodies of five people and one injured person to the hospital, Wafa added.

Following the airstrike, the Israeli army said that one of its fighter jets targeted the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank as part of a joint operation with the Shin Bet security agency, without providing further details.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul