ISRAELI forces killed at least six Palestinians and wounded more than two dozen others in a raid on a home in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials have said.

The Israeli military said that one of those killed in the Jenin refugee camp was the suspected assailant behind a fatal shooting of two Israeli brothers in the northern West Bank town of Hawara last week. 

An Israeli police spokesperson said three Israeli soldiers were in  fair-to-serious condition after being shot and wounded in Tuesday’s firefight in Jenin.

The Jenin brigade, a loosely organised armed group based in the Jenin camp, said its fighters shot and hurled explosive devices at Israeli soldiers. 

The troops had surrounded the suspect’s home on the outskirts of the densely populated camp. 

Early yesterday, Palestinian militants launched a rocket toward Israel but it fell short and exploded inside the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. There were no reports of casualties.

Tuesday’s raid was the latest in a string of deadly raids by the Israeli military in the northern West Bank, as violence surges to its highest levels in years. 

The latest killings raised fears of further bloodshed in the occupied West Bank as young Palestinians increasingly resist Israel’s occupation, in its 56th year.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that six people were shot and killed on Tuesday.

Israeli security forces identified Abdul Fattah Kharushah as a Hamas militant who killed the Israeli brothers in Hawara. 

Hamas issued a statement identifying Mr Kharushah as a member, without claiming responsibility for the killing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the army for killing the assailant and sent wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded, saying: “Whoever harms us will pay the price.”

The spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, denounced the Israeli military for waging “an all-out war” against the Palestinians and for derailing recent efforts to restore calm.

Israeli forces said it also raided the nearby flashpoint city of Nablus and arrested two sons of the suspect, whom officials accused of helping their father carry out the attack.

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year. 

Palestinian attacks against Israelis in East Jerusalem and the West Bank have killed 14 people during that same time.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, in the 1967 Middle East war.