Air defenses intercepted 5 of the rockets which have been fired towards the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, the navy mentioned, and one missile landed in an open subject. There have been no reviews of injury or casualties.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows under.

Israeli forces on Wednesday stormed into a serious Palestinian metropolis within the occupied West Financial institution for a uncommon daylight arrest raid, triggering a fierce gunbattle that killed at the least 10 Palestinians and wounded scores of others.

It was one of many bloodiest battles in almost a 12 months of combating within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem and raised the chance of additional bloodshed. Israeli police mentioned they have been on heightened alert, whereas the Hamas militant group in Gaza mentioned its persistence was “working out.” Islamic Jihad, one other militant group, vowed to retaliate.

Among the many useless have been two Palestinian males, ages 72 and 61, and a 16-year-old boy, in accordance with well being officers.

The four-hour operation left a broad swath of injury in a centuries-old market in Nablus, a metropolis often called a militant stronghold.

In a single emotional scene, an overwhelmed medic pronounced a person useless, solely to note the lifeless affected person was his father. Elsewhere, an novice video confirmed two males, apparently unarmed, being shot as they ran on the street.

Israel has been finishing up stepped-up arrest raids of needed militants within the West Financial institution since a collection of lethal Palestinian assaults in Israel final spring.

Israeli officers liken these operations to “mowing the garden,” saying they’re obligatory to forestall a tough state of affairs from turning worse. However the raids have proven few indicators of slowing the violence, and in circumstances like Wednesday’s operation, can elevate the chance of reprisals.

The Israeli navy mentioned it entered Nablus, the West Financial institution’s business heart, to arrest three militants suspected in earlier capturing assaults. The principle suspect was needed within the killing of an Israeli soldier final fall.

The navy often conducts raids at night time in what it says is a tactic meant to scale back the danger of civilian casualties. However navy spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht mentioned forces moved rapidly after intelligence companies tracked down the lads in a hideout.

Hecht mentioned Israeli forces surrounded the constructing and requested the lads to give up, however as an alternative they opened fireplace. One militant who tried to flee the constructing was shot and killed. He mentioned the navy then fired missiles on the home, flattening the constructing and killing the opposite two males.

On the identical time, he mentioned, troops that had arrange an out of doors perimeter got here underneath heavy fireplace, setting off an intense gunfight. The navy mentioned others hurled rocks and explosives on the troops, and officers launched a video taken from inside an armored automobile as crowds of Palestinian youths pelted it with stones. There have been no Israeli casualties.

The inflow of wounded overwhelmed town’s Najah Hospital, mentioned Ahmad Aswad, the pinnacle nurse of the cardiology division.

The 36-year-old medic informed The Related Press that he noticed many sufferers shot within the chest, head and thighs. “They shot to kill,” he mentioned.

In a second he mentioned will hang-out him, he and a colleague rigorously extracted a bullet from a 61-year-old man’s coronary heart. After the chaos subsided and so they pronounced their affected person useless, they regarded on the man’s face. It was his colleague’s father, 61-year-old Abdelaziz Ashqar.

His colleague, Elias Ashqar, was overcome and went silent. “It didn’t really feel like we have been in actuality,” Aswad mentioned.

Within the Previous Metropolis of Nablus, folks stared on the rubble that had been a big house within the centuries-old market. From one finish to the opposite, retailers have been riddled with bullets. Parked automobiles have been crushed. Blood stained the cement ruins. Furnishings from the destroyed house was scattered amongst mounds of particles.

Time-stamped safety footage extensively shared on-line appeared to indicate two younger males working down a road. Gunshots are heard, and each fall to the bottom, with one’s hat flying off his head.

The 2 males didn’t seem like armed, however the video didn’t present the occasions that led to the capturing.

Hecht referred to as the video “problematic,” and mentioned the navy was wanting into it.

The Palestinian Well being Ministry pronounced 10 folks useless, together with Ashqar and a 72-year-old man. Varied Palestinian militant teams claimed six of the useless — together with the three focused within the raid — as members. There was no rapid phrase on whether or not the others belonged to armed teams. Later, officers mentioned a 66-year-old man had died from tear gasoline inhalation.

Because the our bodies have been paraded via the gang on stretchers, hundreds of individuals packed the streets, chanting in assist of the militants. Masked males fired into the air.

Israel’s police power mentioned it was beefing up safety within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem in anticipation of violence.

Final month, Israeli troops killed 10 folks in the same raid within the northern West Financial institution. In response, Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza. The next day, a lone Palestinian gunman opened fireplace close to a synagogue in an east Jerusalem settlement, killing seven folks.

Days later, 5 Palestinian militants have been killed in an Israeli arrest raid elsewhere within the West Financial institution. That was adopted by a Palestinian automobile ramming that killed three Israelis, together with two younger brothers, in Jerusalem.

The combating comes at a delicate time, lower than two months after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new hard-line authorities took workplace.

The federal government is dominated by ultranationalists who’ve pushed for more durable motion in opposition to Palestinian militants and vowed to entrench Israeli rule within the occupied West Financial institution. Israeli media have quoted high safety officers as expressing concern that this might result in much more violence because the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.

The Cupboard contains a variety of West Financial institution settler leaders. In a transfer that would additional elevate tensions, Yesha, the settlement council, introduced that Israeli planning officers had granted approval to just about 2,000 new properties in settlements throughout the West Financial institution. There was no rapid affirmation from the federal government, however an announcement was anticipated Thursday.

The Palestinians and a lot of the worldwide neighborhood say settlements constructed on occupied lands are unlawful and obstacles to peace. Over 700,000 settlers now stay within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

In Washington, State Division spokesman Ned Value mentioned the U.S. acknowledges Israel’s “very actual” safety considerations, however was additionally “deeply involved” in regards to the deaths and accidents from the raid.

He urged each side to keep away from steps that would “inflame tensions,” together with the doable approval of latest settlements.

The Israeli determination comes within the wake of a U.N. presidential assertion that strongly criticized settlements. The U.S. blocked what would have been a stronger, legally binding council decision.

American diplomats claimed to have extracted an Israeli pledge to halt unilateral motion to dam the decision. The approval of latest settlements by Israel would seem to undermine that declare.

The Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, urged the worldwide neighborhood “to place an finish to those massacres in opposition to our folks.”

Within the Gaza Strip, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the ruling Hamas militant group, warned that Hamas’ ”persistence is working out,” he mentioned.

Late Wednesday, Palestinian activists burned tires alongside Gaza’s frontier with Israel in protest.

Hamas has battled Israel in 4 wars since seizing management of Gaza in 2007.

Islamic Jihad chief Ziyad Al-Nakhala referred to as the Israeli raid a “big crime.”

“It’s our obligation as resistance forces to answer this crime with out hesitation,” he mentioned.

Almost 60 Palestinians have been killed within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem this 12 months, in accordance with an AP tally.

Final 12 months, almost 150 Palestinians have been killed in these areas, making it the deadliest 12 months there since 2004, in accordance with figures by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Some 30 folks on the Israeli facet have been killed in Palestinian assaults.

Tufaha reported from Nablus. Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed reporting.