Ramallah/Tel Aviv, 9 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) - A pregnant woman has been shot dead during an Israeli military operation in Tulkarem in the West Bank, according to Palestinian reports on Sunday.

The unborn child did not survive either, the Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced.

The woman, 23, was eight months pregnant. Her husband was also critically injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire on their vehicle in the Nur Shams refugee neighbourhood. An Israeli army spokesman said the reports were being investigated.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday that the army was expanding its offensive in the northern West Bank to include the Nur Shams refugee neighbourhood.

"We are smashing the terrorist infrastructure in the refugee camps and preventing their return," he said in his statement, which was posted on X.

There was massive destruction as a result of the operation in Nur Shams, according to the governor of Tulkarem, Abdullah Kmail, forcing hundreds of people to leave their homes.

A 14-year-old was also injured by shots to the stomach, the Palestinian aid organization Red Crescent reported.

On January 21, Israel launched its largest military operation in the occupied West Bank in a long time. The city of Jenin is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians.

On Thursday, a report released by Doctors Without Borders condemned the escalating violence by the Israeli military and Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

It cited 870 Palestinian deaths and over 7,100 injuries since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, while accusing Israel of systematically obstructing healthcare and preventing access to medical care.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 657 attacks on the West Bank health-care system between October 7, 2023, and February 4, 2025.

Israel took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967. Today, around 700,000 Israeli settlers live there among 3 million Palestinians.

The Palestinians claim the territories for a state of their own, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Photo: EPA