![\"AFP](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/2bc9\/live\/3911abb0-65da-11ef-992e-71dc6043c242.jpg.webp\")
AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nFive more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in a second day of raids in the occupied West Bank, with the UN calling for de-escalation.<\/p>\n The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were “five terrorists who had hidden inside a mosque” in Tulkarm, near the boundary with Israel.<\/p>\n Israel began what it said was a major counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank on Wednesday. There have been conflicting death tolls as the operation unfolded across multiple cities. <\/p>\n The IDF said yesterday that nine militants had been killed, five in Jenin and Tulkarm, and four in al-Faraa refugee camp. The Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday that 12 had been killed in IDF attacks so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to immediately halt its operation, saying it was “fuelling an already explosive situation”.<\/p>\n He urged Israeli forces to “exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable”.<\/p>\n The IDF said the five Palestinians were killed after “exchanges of fire” in Tulkarm.<\/p>\n It identified one of the fatalities as Mohammed Jaber – also known as Abu Shujaa – who was reportedly the local leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.<\/p>\n The IDF said Jaber was linked to a number of attacks on Israelis, and was planning more.<\/p>\n The deaths came on the second day of what Israeli media say could be a days-long operation.<\/p>\n The Israeli military said it also made arrests and seized weapons.<\/p>\n Homes and infrastructure were damaged in the attacks, Palestinians said.<\/p>\n It is the largest such action in the West Bank since the days of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, two decades ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said the operation has a “clear goal: preventing Iranian terror-by-proxy that would harm Israeli civilians”.<\/p>\n In recent days Israeli politicians have accused Iran – which backs both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – of trying to smuggle in explosive devices with the aim of attacking Israel.<\/p>\n Israel “cannot sit idly by and wait for the spectacle of buses and cafes exploding in city centres”, Mr Danon said in a post on X.<\/p>\n There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, and the subsequent war in Gaza.<\/p>\n EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel’s operation in the West Bank “must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza”.<\/p>\n Elsewhere on Thursday, Mr Borrell said he was starting the process of asking EU members if they want to impose sanctions on “some Israeli ministers”.<\/p>\n He accused the ministers – who he has not named – of “launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians, and proposing things that clearly go against international law”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n