Israel launches raids across occupied West Bank, kills 3 Palestinians

Israel said that the overnight operations were not related to the shooting the day before, in which gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis in the West Bank, killing three persons

The Israeli military launched a wave of raids across the occupied West Bank overnight and into Tuesday, killing at least three Palestinians.

The army said it killed two Palestinian militants in an airstrike after they fired at troops in the area of Tamun, a village in the northern West Bank. It said another militant was killed in close-quarters combat in the nearby village of Taluza and that an Israeli soldier was severely wounded there. 

The military said it arrested more than 20 suspected militants in different parts of the territory.

It said the overnight operations were not related to the shooting the day before, in which gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis in the West Bank, killing two women in their 70s and a 35-year-old policeman before fleeing the scene. 

Israeli forces were pursuing those attackers in separate operations.

Palestinians have carried out scores of shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks against Israelis, especially during the past 15 months of the Israel-Hamas war. Israel has launched near-nightly military raids across the territory that frequently trigger gunbattles with militants and have also killed civilians.

There has also been a sharp rise in attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers, leading the United States to impose sanctions.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.