TWO Israeli soldiers were killed in the northern occupied West Bank after a Palestinian opened fire at a security checkpoint before being shot dead.

Israeli hospitals said that another eight soldiers were injured during the attack at the Tayasir checkpoint near Jenin.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad resistance group praised the attack but neither claimed responsibility for it. The right to use armed force to resist foreign occupation of your land is recognised in international law, with China having submitted at the International Court of Justice that Palestinian attacks on Israeli troops in Gaza and the West Bank fall into this category.

Israel has carried out an extensive operation in nearby Jenin in recent weeks to clamp down on what Israel said is militant activity in the city, as soldiers and armoured bulldozers destroyed scores of homes.

Israel has also set up at least 900 checkpoints, gates and dirt mounds that have cut off Palestinian communities and made moving between villages, towns and cities almost impossible.

At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded and detained by Israeli forces this year. 

Meanwhile in Gaza, local authorities have called for more tents and temporary shelters to help house Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed by Israeli forces.

The Gaza government’s media office said: “Securing shelters has become an urgent humanitarian need that cannot be delayed. It is the most pressing need at this moment.” 

The government media office later accused Israel of restricting the flow of aid and shelters to the territory in violation of the ceasefire deal that came into effect on January 19.

It accused Israel of “escalating the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip” by continuing to create obstacles to aid reaching the Palestinians. 

US President Donald Trump was set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today.

The initial 42-day truce, which will see the release of 33 Israeli captives and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, expires on March 1.

On Monday, President Trump said he has “no assurances” that the fighting will not resume.

Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli parliament and a vocal critic of Israel’s abuses against Palestinians, said it was “terrifying” that talks over the second stage have not begun.

Mr Cassif told the Al Jazeera network from West Jerusalem: “I’ve been saying since day one that Mr Netanyahu and the thugs around him in the coalition and the government are not really interested in a ceasefire or saving the Israeli hostages — let alone saving the lives of thousands of Palestinians.”