The Palestinian health ministry says an Israeli airstrike has killed no fewer than 10 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in an attack which the Israeli military said targeted armed militants.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the airstrike which occurred on Wednesday was in the area of Tubas, in the northern West Bank.

It was gathered that violence in the West Bank has increased since the commencement of the war in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, many of them armed gunmen but also including stone-throwing youths or uninvolved civilians, and thousands have been arrested by Israeli forces.

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In the same way, Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Israel have also killed dozens of Israelis.

Reports showed that the West Bank, a kidney-shaped stretch of land about 100 km long, was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and is seen by Palestinians as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza.

Israel has reportedly stepped up operations in the West Bank since a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect on January 19.