Death toll from Israeli airstrike in northern West Bank rises to 10, several injured

The death toll from an Israeli airstrike late Wednesday in the northern occupied West Bank rose to 10, with several others injured, health officials said on Thursday.

"10 people were martyred in an Israeli airstrike on Tammun town in the Tubas Governorate," the Health Ministry said in a briefed update.

Late Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said seven Palestinians were killed and four seriously injured in Tammun, south of Tubas.

The Israeli Ynet news website quoted a military statement that confirmed the airstrike in Tammun, claiming it was against "an armed terrorist cell" as part of an ongoing military operation in the northern West Bank.

The escalation in the West Bank comes amid a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza following 15 months of Israel's genocidal war that killed over 47,400 people and injured over 111,000 others.

Reports say coalition partners in the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have demanded an escalation in the West Bank in return for not bringing down the government over the ceasefire deal.

At least 890 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,700 injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.