Palestinian Authority forces are clashing with armed groups in the occupied West Bank in a rare crackdown aimed at restoring order in a militant stronghold.

Following a ten-day siege, the Palestinian Authority began, on December 14, a violent raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The PA security forces used similar tactics as used by the Israeli occupation forces in their routine attacks on the area.

JENIN, West Bank — The black-clad militants of Jenin refugee camp raced through sewage-filled alleyways to dodge gunfire echoing all around. “Quickly,” a Palestinian fighter urged as they weaved through a network of armed patrols and improvised barricades. “Watch out,” another warned at a juncture where an improvised explosive was being set.

Palestinian security forces have launched a rare crackdown against local militant groups in the northern West Bank.

Three people were killed in an Israeli military operation in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. The Health Ministry in Ramallah confirmed the deaths of two women, aged 30 and 53, and an 18-year-old man in an Israeli attack.

Palestinian Authority security forces have battled Islamist fighters in Jenin for days, as they wrestle to exert control of one of the historic centres of militancy in the West Bank ahead of a likely shakeout in Palestinian politics after the Gaza war.

A seven-year-old Palestinian child was killed after a landmine left behind by the Israeli army exploded in an area east of Bethlehem.