Seven Palestinians killed in West Bank's Jenin, some in drone strike

RAMALLAH (Reuters) -Seven Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, including five in a drone strike during an Israeli raid, the Palestinian health ministry and the Palestinian official news agency WAFA said.

They said the dead included a 13-year-old who died after Israeli forces prevented an ambulance from transferring him to the hospital to receive medical treatment.

Israel's military confirmed the drone strike, and said it had killed an unspecified number of Palestinians who were spotted hurling explosive devices and firing at its forces.

Israeli troops were operating "to expose explosive devices planted under roads to attack the security forces", the military said in a statement.

The troops found weapons, ammunition and explosive devices, tunnels and an observation control room, and dismantled a bomb making site, the statement said.

One other person was injured in the attack on Al-Sibat neighbourhood in the city of Jenin, WAFA reported.

Jenin's hospital director told the agency the Palestinians were directly targeted.

Israeli forces are encircling three hospitals in the area, WAFA added.

Before this attack, the health ministry reported that 275 Palestinians had been killed in the occupied West Bank since the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by gunmen of the Islamist movement Hamas operating out of the Gaza Strip.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Jana Choukeir and Adam Makary; Writing by Clauda Tanios; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Grant McCool)