As the Middle East gallops dangerously towards a regional war, at least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said late on Thursday.
According to the Palestinian Authority-run news agency, Wafa, the air strike had hit a cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp where many civilians had been present.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the air force had conducted a strike in Tulkarm in a joint operation with its Shin Bet security service and had killed the head of Hamas in Tulkarm and “other significant terrorists.”
IDF also said the strike had killed Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who it said had attempted a car bombing last month and supplied weapons.
Wafa quoted a local official as saying children and elderly people from several families were killed in the strike.
