Israeli troops raiding Jenin in the occupied West Bank have set homes in the area ablaze, the Wafa news agency reports.

JENIN: Hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation. The Israeli military launched the raid in the Jenin area, days into a ceasefire in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's Civil Defense reported that the number of bodies recovered from under the rubble in Rafah has risen to 137 since the truce began.

Gunfire and explosions rocked the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, an AFP journalist reported, as the Israeli military kept up a

The European Union plans to deploy border management experts to support the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, diplomats confirmed to dpa on Friday. Member states have approved a revised plan for the EU Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point,

The operation follows a dramatic withdrawal by Palestinian Authority forces, who had been clashing with militants in Jenin since December

Repeating the tactics used in its criminal war of genocide in Gaza, Israeli forces have surrounded the Khalil Suleiman governmental hospital. Residents in several Jenin neighbourhoods were ordered to leave their homes,

Hundreds of Jenin residents left their homes on Thursday, prompted by messages from drones fitted with loudspeakers, witnesses said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.

Israel says it will maintain control of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas. A statement by Prime

Israel says troops fired on masked gunmen in Gaza, but it remains committed to the ceasefire as it continues a new offensive in the West Bank.

The ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas stretched into a fifth day on Thursday. Humanitarian aid groups are working to surge food and supplies to the war-ravaged territory as Palestinians scour through mountains of rubble.