Report: Israel ends military operation in West Bank's Jenin

An Israeli army operation against Islamist extremists in Jenin in the northern West Bank has ended, according to a Palestinian media report late on Friday.

Israeli troops withdrew from the area, which is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. They had been deployed there for 10 days.

The Israeli army did not initially confirm the report, saying only that its forces were still active in order to achieve the goals of the anti-terrorism operation.

So far, 14 militants have been killed and more than 30 suspects have been detained in Jenin, according to the military.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, 21 people were killed during the operation in the area. Palestinian media has reported serious damage caused to buildings and roads in the area.

According to Palestinian reports, the Israeli army also withdrew from Tulkarem in the north-west of the West Bank, with some smaller-scale military operations elsewhere.

Meanwhile a 13-year-old girl was killed in clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources.

The child was reportedly killed by gunfire from Israeli soldiers, said the Health Ministry in Ramallah.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was investigating the incident.

Palestinian media reported that Israeli settlers entered a Palestinian village near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank and attacked houses.

Clashes broke out with the residents and the Israeli army intervened with gunfire.

The child was said to have been in her room with her sisters when she was struck in the chest by the gunfire, the WAFA Palestinian news agency reported, citing her father. According to the report, she was later declared dead at the hospital.

The information could not initially be independently verified.

Israel launched a large-scale military operation in several locations in the West Bank last week, saying it was in response to a significant increase in the number of attacks on Israelis.

The West Bank is a separate Palestinian territory from the Gaza Strip, the coastal region where Israel has been waging a war against Palestinian militant organization Hamas since October last year.

The situation in the West Bank has significantly worsened since the beginning of the Gaza war.

Since then, 663 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or attacks in the West Bank, according to the Ministry of Health. At the same time, violence by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has also increased.