The Palestinian health ministry on Sunday said Israeli troops shot and killed two young Palestinian children and their parents in the north of the occupied West Bank on Sunday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that its teams had recovered the bodies of two adults and two children from a vehicle that had been fired on by Israeli forces in the town of Tammun.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that "four martyrs from one family arrived at the Turkish Public Hospital in Tubas after the occupation army shot at them in Tammun."
It said the hospital had received the bodies of the man, aged 37, the woman, 35, and two boys aged five and seven, adding that all had gunshot wounds.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the couple's two other children, aged eight and 11, were wounded by shrapnel after Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicle early on Sunday morning.
According to Palestinian authorities and the United Nations, there has been a spike in deadly attacks, mostly by illegal Israeli settlers, in the West Bank in recent days, with at least five Palestinians killed since the start of March.
Israel's military launched an operation in November last year, allegedly against Palestinian armed groups in the north of the West Bank, including areas around Tubas.
More broadly, violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the begining of its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. It has continued despite a ceasefire since October 10 last year.
According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or illegal settlers have killed at least 1,045 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza.
Official Israeli figures say that 45 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed during Israeli military operations or alleged Palestinian attacks.
In addition to roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements and outposts in the West Bank.