Mass militant funeral after deadliest West Bank raid since 2005

Atop a derelict building in Jenin, children counted the passing bodies of Palestinian fighters being carried to their graves in a mass funeral for militants killed in the deadliest Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank since 2005.

In the city — long-considered a hotbed of militancy — 14 people were killed in the fighting on Thursday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

After a day of running battles between masked gunmen and Israeli forces in armored personnel carriers, the streets were pockmarked with holes and strewn with bullet casings.

From homes and hospital morgues, the bodies of 10 of the victims were carried on stretchers by dozens of masked militants firing guns in the air.

"We don't live like the rest of the people," said Hayat Amorri, 38, roaming the still smoldering wreck of her home, damaged in the raid.

The Israeli army said "during the counterterrorism activity, forces exchanged fire with armed terrorists, over 10 terrorists were killed, and over 20 wanted suspects were apprehended".

'Day after day' –

The 14 dead in Jenin on Thursday is the highest toll from a single raid in the West Bank since 2005, according to UN figures.

Tensions in the Palestinian territory have boiled over with a sharp increase in Israeli raids since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.

In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, relentlessly bombing the Gaza Strip and sending in ground troops. More than 11,000 people, also mostly civilians, have been killed, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

In the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, more than 180 Palestinians have been killed since the war's start, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Three Israelis were slain in the same period, officials say.

"Day after day, there is an assault, inside the city, inside the camp, in the villages. We are never safe," said 39-year-old Salam Hussein, leading three children through the rubble of a razed street in Jenin.

A neighbourhood chicken coop was smashed, a washing line mangled in the fighting, and the blackened clothes strewn on the ground.

A young boy posed for a photo, flashing a peace sign beside a memorial to a previously killed militant, wrecked in Thursday's battle.

The destroyed tribute showed only the militant's grin and his arms clutching an assault rifle.

"We go out with our children under the shelling, under the bombs. We miraculously survive," said Hussein.

"Nobody can live a normal life."

'Tired psychologically' –

Across the entire West Bank, a total of 18 Palestinians were killed on Thursday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The militant funeral, attended by a few thousand, ended at the same patch of ground where others were buried after another raid last week.

Men passed breeze blocks overhead to cover the newest graves, before the crowds flowed back into a city once again wracked by fighting.

"We are tired psychologically," 50-year-old Naseer Saadi said earlier in the day, clearing his street with a hoe.

"We only see destruction, they do nothing else, and this is like this every day."

"Why do they come here?" asked the 50-year-old. "We are not Hamas in Gaza."