Palestinian Authority forces are clashing with armed groups in the occupied West Bank in a rare crackdown aimed at restoring order in a militant stronghold.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in a dawn raid on Tuesday on a refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Following a ten-day siege, the Palestinian Authority began, on December 14, a violent raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The PA

The Ramallah-based ministry said seven were killed in the Tulkarem refugee camp and one in the nearby Nur Shams camp after the military launched a sweeping raid early on Tuesday.

The black-clad militants of Jenin refugee camp raced through sewage-filled alleyways to dodge gunfire echoing all around. “Quickly,” a Palestinian fighter urged as they weaved through a network of armed patrols and improvised barricades.

Palestinian security forces have launched a rare crackdown against local militant groups in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian government has been carrying out a rare and lethal sweep against militants in a flashpoint West Bank city, saying it was needed to foil an imminent car-bombing and other attacks.

For more than a week, the sprawling Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has echoed to the sound of heavy gunfire – with masked snipers on roof tops and muffled explosions within its warren of alleyways.

The Palestinian Authority insists that its operation in the Jenin refugee camp was intended to maintain security and thwart any Israeli plans for the West Bank. Yet other Palestinian factions have criticized the move,