The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians in the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early in the morning.

Chahal, the Israeli military, does not deny or confirm the loss of life at this stage.

Israeli army units stormed the Balata camp in the city of Nablus, accompanied by excavators and prevented ambulances from entering it, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

On Sunday, the United States criticized Israel for allowing settlers in the West Bank to permanently settle in a place that Washington says should not be legalized.

The head of Israel’s Central Command signed an order Thursday allowing Israelis to enter the Homs outpost area, paving the way for the construction of an official settlement there, the Times of Israel reported.

The State Department has repeatedly urged Israel to refrain from any action that escalates tensions with the Palestinians, such as formalizing settlement outposts, and warned it specifically about Homs.

“We are deeply concerned by the Israeli government’s order to allow its citizens to establish a permanent presence at the Homesh outpost in the northern West Bank, which, in accordance with Israeli law, was illegally built on private Palestinian land,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Mr. Miller said the order is inconsistent with the commitments the Israeli government made in 2004 and more recently to Biden administration officials.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.