Death toll in West Bank surges as Israel pursues militants

Deadly violence has been surging in the West Bank as the Israeli military pursues Palestinian militants in the aftermath of the Hamas attack from Gaza with at least 90 Palestinians killed in the Israelioccupied territory in the past two weeks mainly in clashes with Israeli troopsThe violence threatens to open another front in the 2weekold war and puts pressure on the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority which administers parts of the West Bank and is deeply unpopular among Palestinians in large part because it cooperates with Israel on security mattersPeople queue in front of a bakery in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip PicsAPThe tally includes five Palestinians killed in separate incidents on Sunday including two who died in an airstrike on a mosque in Jenin refugee camp that Israel said was being used by militants Israel carried out an airstrike in another West Bank refugee camp last week in which 13 Palestinians including five minors and a member of Israelrsquos paramilitary Border Police were killedGaza Syria West Bank struckIsraeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into Sunday as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants as the twoweekold war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflictDamage after overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah in the Gaza StripIsrael has traded fire with Lebanonrsquos Hezbollah militant group on a neardaily basis since the war began and tensions are soaring in the Israelioccupied West Bank where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent daysPalestine rocket used in hospital blast FranceAn assessment by French military intelligence indicates the most likely cause of the deadly explosion at Gaza Cityrsquos alAhli hospital was a Palestinian rocket that carried an explosive charge of about 5 kilograms 11 pounds and possibly misfired a senior French military official said FridaySeveral rockets in the arsenal of the Palestinian militant group Hamas carry explosive charges of about that weight including an Iranianmade rocket and another that is Palestinianmade the intelligence official said None of their intelligence pointed to an Israeli strike the official saidUS orders more defence systems in Middle EastUS Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced late Saturday he was sending additional air defense systems to the Middle East as well as putting more troops on preparetodeploy orders Austin said the US would be delivering a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD battery along with additional Patriot missile defense system batteries ldquoto locations throughout the region to increase force protection for US troopsrdquo Bases in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly targetted by drones in the days since hundreds were killed in a hospital blast in GazaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever