ISRAELI FORCES ON Monday killed five Palestinians in a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, an Israeli security official said, with Hamas Islamists confirming its fighters were among the dead.

The Israeli official told AFP the army was holding the bodies of the Palestinians killed in the early morning operation.

Hamas in a statement said it was mourning members of its armed wing killed “in an armed clash with the Zionist occupation”.

The bloodshed comes as the UN rights chief Volker Turk on Friday called for an end to the “illogic of escalation” between Israel and the Palestinians, amid a spike in deadly violence between the two.
Turk criticised Israel for measures that “can only lead to further violence and bloodshed”, following a surge in attacks and fighting that have drawn calls from the international community for calm and restraint.

Since the start of this year, the conflict has killed 36 Palestinians – including attackers, militants and civilians – as well as the six Israeli civilians, including a child, and one Ukrainian.

“Rather than doubling down on failed approaches of violence and coercion… I urge everyone involved to step out of the illogic of escalation that has only ended in dead bodies, shattered lives and utter despair,” Turk said in a statement.

© Agence France-Presse