Death toll from Israeli raid on Jenin rises to six

The death toll from Israel's raid on the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank rose to six on Tuesday after one of more than 90 Palestinians wounded a day earlier in the exchange of fire between Israeli troops and gunmen succumbed to the injuries sustained.

Fighting escalated after a military vehicle was severely damaged by a Palestinian explosive device, of a strength not previously seen in the long history of Israeli operations in the West Bank, which have surged in recent months.

Israeli forces used significant firepower to protect its stranded troops, including an Apache helicopter, which had not been used in the West Bank since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.

Five Palestinians were confirmed killed on Monday, including three Palestinian militants and a teenaged boy and girl. A total of 92 people were wounded, including more than 20 who were critically injured, a far higher number than in previous raids regularly carried out by Israeli security forces.

One person died of their wounds on Tuesday morning, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, but did not identify the victim.

Eight Israel soldiers were wounded during what the army said was an operation to detain two suspects.

The director of the Red Crescent in Jenin told The National that the unexpected chaos of the raid was a key reason for so many Palestinians being injured, including four or five who were still in a critical condition on Tuesday.

"Usually, Israeli raids take three to four hours. This time the operation took 10 hours. That's why we saw such a big number of casualties," Mahmoud Al Sa'adi said.

Mr Al Sa'adi said the fact that much of the fighting happened in the densely populated Al Jabriya neighbourhood was another factor.

He said the number of critical injuries was high because of the number of people wounded in the upper parts of their bodies, particularly the head, neck and chest area.

A resident of the Jenin refugee camp in the city, home to a particularly high number of Palestinian militants and one of the most frequently raided areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told The National that many injuries were among residents who came out to watch the fighting.

"The Red Crescent transferred 43 casualties to hospitals in Jenin," Mr Al Sa'adi said.

"There are also other private ambulances and private cars that transfer casualties to the hospitals. There is a hospital at the entrance of the camp."

Others were taken to the nearby city of Nablus and the Palestinian capital, Ramallah.

Israel's military has long maintained that it uses internationally leading measures to protect civilians and prevent injury during its operations.

It has nonetheless faced criticism from rights groups for what they believe to be its frequent use of heavy handed crowd-control tactics.

At the beginning of June, two Palestinian journalists were admitted to hospital after being shot in the head with rubber bullets by Israel's military.

The military said in a Twitter statement that "an initial inquiry suggests that a Palestinian photojournalist in the area of the violent riots was injured, likely by a rubber bullet”.