JENIN CITY, Palestine 

Israeli forces killed two more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Thursday amid a military operation in Jenin city, the Health Ministry said.

Two young men, aged 25 and 30, were killed by Israeli army fire in the town of Burqin, west of Jenin, the ministry said in a statement.

The bodies of the two men were still held by the Israeli army, it added.

Israeli Channel 14 reported that they were behind a Jan. 6 attack that left three illegal settlers dead near Al-Fanduq village, east of Qalqilya city.

On Wednesday evening, Israeli bulldozers demolished a house in Burqin town after an exchange of fire with armed Palestinians.

The Israeli army launched a military operation in the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday amid rising tensions in the occupied West Bank.

At least 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 others injured in the attack, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli army said that the operation in Jenin, code-named "Iron Wall," is expected to last several days.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank due to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where over 47,000 victims have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 110,700 injured since Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 873 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,700 injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar.