WEST BANK: Three Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank in two separate clashes with the Israeli army, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Two Palestinians in their 20s were killed in an Israeli army operation in Dura, in the southern West Bank, witnesses told an AFP journalist.

They described seeing young Palestinians throwing stones and hearing gunshots. “All of a sudden, soldiers arrived in our town and started shooting at people without any warning,” Mohammed Rabaei, head of Dura hospital, told AFP.

Nine people were wounded in the violence, including four in critical condition, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Israeli army said a crowd of around 100 “hurled Molotov cocktails and blocks at the forces”.

Soldiers opened fire and one of those who had thrown a petrol bomb was killed, the army said.

Another Palestinian was killed further north in Tulkarem province, according to the health ministry.

The intensive phase of Israel’s bombardment in southern Gaza will end soon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said according to AFP.

“We made it clear that the intensive manoeuvering stage would last for approximately three months,” he told a news conference.

“In southern Gaza we will reach this achievement and it will end soon,” he said.