RAMALLAH, Palestine

Three Palestinian children were injured by Israeli army fire in the West Bank town of Beit Furik on Sunday, according to medics.

Witnesses said clashes erupted between Palestinian residents and Israeli forces during a military raid into the town east of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics transferred three boys aged between 14 and 16 to hospital for medical attention.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank amid Israel’s brutal offensive which has killed more than 42,600 people, mostly women and children, since last year following a Hamas attack.

At least 757 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,250 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a landmark opinion last July by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala