Israeli authorities said they killed three Palestinian fighters early this morning during an operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police said the three were shot as they emerged from a cave near Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank known as a stronghold for gunmen.
The Israeli military said they "participated in terrorist activity in Jenin," but did not provide further details.
The military previously announced that it had carried out an airstrike on the cave shortly after the clash with the militants.
Israel has increased military activity in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023, when a Hamas attack on southern Israel triggered the Gaza War.
Israel has said the operations are targeting militants in the West Bank. But Palestinians and human rights groups say dozens of civilians are also among the dead, while tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes.
The US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza has held since it began on October 10. Late last night, the Israeli military announced that the remains of another hostage had been handed over to Israel, as stipulated in the agreement.
Since the start of the ceasefire, Hamas has handed over the bodies of 16 hostages to Israel and is due to hand over 12 more, but Hamas says it is having difficulty finding the bodies in the devastated Gaza Strip.
In exchange for the return of the hostages' bodies, Israel has so far handed over to Gaza the bodies of 195 Palestinians, less than half of whom have been identified.
Over the weekend, Egypt sent a team of experts and heavy equipment to help search for the bodies of hostages still in Gaza, and they continued their work yesterday.
The last 20 living hostages were handed over to Israel at the beginning of the ceasefire, and in exchange for them, according to the agreement, Israel released about 2.000 Palestinian prisoners.
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