Israeli forces shot down a drone over the Gaza Strip that the governing Islamist group Hamas claimed was part of its armoury while engaging two Palestinian gunmen during a battle in the occupied West Bank on Monday, according to militant groups and medical personnel.
Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed has increased as Muslims observe the sacred month of Ramadan, and tensions have risen.
The most recent killings took place during an Israeli military operation in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
One of its members was reportedly slain while fighting the invasion, according to The Lion's Den, a group of Palestinian gunmen in Nablus. The Fatah group claimed responsibility for another dead shooter.
The military claimed that after falling under fire in Nablus, its troops killed a number of attackers. Israel suffered no fatalities.
According to the Israeli military, during the raid, two individuals were arrested on suspicion of helping a Palestinian commit a drive-by shooting on March 25 that left two soldiers injured. The vehicle used had also been confiscated, it claimed.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesperson in Ramallah, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, charged that Israel was attempting to "drag the region into a cycle of violence and instability."