Teen among four Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on West Bank

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians on Thursday morning following a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Separately, 14-year-old Walid Saad Daoud Nassar from Jenin also succumbed to his wounds sustained on Tuesday from Israeli forces who shot him, in a raid that killed six other Palestinians.

The Palestinian health ministry named the deceased from today's raid as Sufyan Adnan Ismail Fakhouri, 26, Nayef Ahmed Yusef Malaysha, 25, and Ahmed Muhammad Dheeb Fashafsha, 22. It added that the three men were killed at close range by Israeli forces.

According to the Israeli border police, undercover officers entered the Palestinian village of Jaba, south of Jenin, to arrest two Palestinians when clashes erupted between the Palestinian residents and Israeli officers.

Speaking to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, a local politician said special Israeli forces "infiltrated the town" and fired at the young men at point blank range.

The large Israeli force also deployed snipers on rooftops and arrested another Palestinian.

The latest killing takes this year's death toll to at least 78, including 14 children and a woman.

It's the bloodiest start of a year since 2000, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

In recent months there has been a notable shift in the army's tactics, with deadly nighttime and daytime raids becoming common place. Israeli forces have also become more permissive in killing Palestinians.

In another Jenin raid earlier this year, the Israeli military killed 10 Palestinians in a single day. Another similar large-scale operation in Nablus last month left 11 Palestinians killed.

With Muslim, Christian and Jewish holidays overlapping next month, many fear more deadly escalations could follow.