ISRAELI forces have killed two Palestinians who allegedly carried out a deadly attack on a bus in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.

Military chiefs said today that the two men barricaded themselves in a structure in the West Bank village of Burqin and exchanged fire with Israeli troops before they were killed overnight. 

They said that Mohammed Nazzal and Katiba al-Shalabi were operatives with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Hamas released a statement claiming the two men were members of its armed wing and praised the bus attack. 

The January 6 attack on the bus carrying Israelis killed three people and wounded six others.

Meanwhile in Gaza, Palestinians are trekking through heavy rains and flooding to get back to their devastated homes.

Although some humanitarian aid has reached Gaza since the ceasefire began on Sunday, the two million Palestinians displaced by the fighting are experiencing miserable conditions.

The winter weather has compounded the hardships of those living in tattered tents and makeshift shelters. Heavy rains were flooding tents across the territory, leaving Palestinians shivering in the cold.

At one makeshift camp in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the downpour today quickly soaked through flimsy tents that seemed to float on pools of muck. 

Some used sandbags to keep their tents from washing away, while others tried to clear the huge puddles of mud outside their shelters. 

Barefoot children trod paths that had become filthy rivers. A cacophony of coughs emanated from every corner, raising concerns about the spread of illness.

Tareq Deifallah, a displaced resident in Deir al-Balah originally from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, said water was seeping through his tent from all sides. He said “the truce is useless” when it came to changing his living conditions.

“Before the truce we were suffering, after the truce we are suffering from the rain and the winter,” Mr Deifallah said.

Monira Faraj, a mother of two young girls, said that rain flooded her tent and soaked through her mattress as her family was sleeping.

“We’re afraid we’re going to drown if it becomes too much,” she said.

Residents of the tent camp said they had no choice but to stay put.

Even though the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that took effect on Sunday allows Palestinians displaced by the fighting to return to their homes, those who set out to check on their houses in recent days said they found only ruins.