About 3,000 forced to leave Jenin refugee camp due to Israeli attack: Palestinian official

Around 3,000 Palestinians residing in the Jenin refugee camp were forced to flee since the Israeli army launched a major operation on the area in the occupied West Bank Monday, a Palestinian official said.

"There are about 3,000 people who have left the camp so far," Jenin deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Roub told AFP, adding that arrangements were being made to house them in schools and other shelters in the city of Jenin.

He said about 18,000 Palestinians reside in the camp.

Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, confirmed to AFP that residents of the camp were leaving.

In the early hours of Monday, Israeli forces launched a large-scale operation in the occupied West Bank that involved air strikes and hundreds of troops.

The Palestinian health ministry said eight people were killed in the operation and at least 80 others were injured.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military requires at least another 24 hours to complete the operation, a person briefed on the military's planning claimed to news outlets.

The Israeli military has so far declined to say how long the operation will take, saying only that it could be longer than one day and forces would stay as long as necessary. 

Nine people were killed, including children, and 100 others were wounded, 20 of them seriously, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war. Excluding the illegally annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law and most countries worldwide.

The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all land it seized in 1967 and to dismantle all Jewish settlements.

Netanyahu, however, has pledged to "strengthen settlements" and expressed no interest in reviving peace talks, moribund since 2014.

After last month's Jenin raid, four Israelis were killed by two Palestinian gunmen - who were shot dead - near the West Bank settlement of Eli.

That same week, Israel said a drone strike killed three in the West Bank.

At least 186 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed this year, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly combatants and three members of the Arab minority.