, a militant stronghold of the West Bank that has been a focus of nearly a year of Israeli arrest raids. The conflict spiked this month, with 29 Palestinians killed since the start of the year. It was not immediately clear how many of those killed Thursday were affiliated with armed groups.
Images published by Palestinian media showed the charred exterior walls of a two-story building and cinder blocks and other debris scattered on a street. The military said it entered the building where the suspects were located to detonate explosives it said were being used by the suspects. Internationally-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags at half-staff. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, condemned the violence, calling on the international community to speak out against it.
The deaths drew condemnation from neighbouring Jordan as well as from the militant Islamic Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have soared since Israel launched the raids last spring, following a spate of Palestinian attacks that killed 19 people, while another round of attacks later in the year brought the death toll to 30.
And the world turns a blind eye.
Clashes with armed terrorists. Your headline bias is showing
massacre? fix your headline