Israeli airstrike kills 10 Palestinians in West Bank, health ministry says

RAMALLAH, Best Bank (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday killed at least 10 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, in an attack which the Israeli military said targeted armed militants.

The airstrike was in the area of Tubas, in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since the start of the war in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, many of them armed gunmen but also including stone-throwing youths or uninvolved civilians, and thousands have been arrested by Israeli forces.

Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Israel have also killed dozens of Israelis.

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The West Bank, a kidney-shaped stretch of land about 100 km (62 miles) long, was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and is seen by Palestinians as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza.

Israel has stepped up operations in the West Bank since a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect on Jan. 19.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; Editing by Sandra Maler)