Israeli forces and armed Palestinians exchanged fire during an Israeli arrest raid in a refugee camp in the West Bank early Tuesday, leaving two Palestinian gunmen dead, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
The two are said to be members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist group and they were killed in the town of Burqin west of Jenin.
Israel's border police said its undercover forces came under heavy gunfire during an operation in the camp to arrest a suspect wanted for what it described as "terrorist activity".
After Imad Abu Al-Hijeh, an ex-convict and the son of a senior Hamas official Jamal Abu Al-Hijeh - who currently serves time in Israeli prison - was detained, gunmen fired at the Israeli forces and a crowd of around 150 Palestinians threw fire-bombs, stones and an improvised grenade at them, the border police statement said.
The Israeli forces responded with live fire and suffered no casualties, according to the statement. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed two Palestinians had been killed.
The two were identified as Abdullah al-Hossari and Shadi Nagham, and local Palestinian media said al-Hossari was a member of the "Jenin Brigade," a newly formed group affiliated with Islamic Jihad. In August, Israel released al-Hossari from detention after 26 months.
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Imad Abu Al-Hijeh and the picture of senior Hamas official in Jenin Jamal Abu Al-Hijeh above him
The Palestinian Authority (PA) launched an extensive military operation in Jenin back in November in order to regain its control on the city, the refugee camp, and surrounding villages. In recent months, the PA lost control of many parts of the province to the growing number of armed groups identified with Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and Hamas, who often terrorized local residents and confronted PA forces.
On Monday, Israeli police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse Palestinian stone-throwers at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, a frequent flashpoint from which tensions rapidly escalated in the past.