Israel kills two women, including pregnant 23-year-old, in West Bank raid

The Israeli military has expanded its assaults in the occupied West Bank, killing two women – one of which was eight months pregnant, during a raid in the Palestinian territory’s Nur Shams refugee camp.

The troops opened fire on a Palestinian family at the camp, killing Sondos Jamal Muhammad Shalabi and critically injuring her husband, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement on Sunday.

The ministry said medical teams were unable to save the 23-year-old woman’s fetus, because the Israeli military prevented them from transferring the injured couple to a hospital.

In a separate statement the ministry said that a 21-year-old woman, Rahaf Fouad Abdullah al-Ashqar, was also killed by Israeli forces in her home.

Palestine’s Wafa news agency said the Israeli army raided the camp in occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem region early on Sunday and deployed heavy machinery and bulldozers, raiding dozens of homes as reconnaissance planes flew at low altitudes.

Local sources told Al Jazeera Arabic they also heard sounds of heavy gunfire and huge explosions.The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem Battalion said that it had thwarted an Israeli infiltration into Nur Shams.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society also said Israeli soldiers prevented its medical teams from entering the camp, despite reports of casualties.

Israel, which claimed its operation targeted what it called “disruptive activities” in the camp, has imposed a curfew in the area.