WEST BANK   -   Is­raeli forces shot dead two Pal­estinians in a pre-dawn raid in the West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian health minis­try said, as the army confirmed it carried out “counter-terror­ism” activity in the occupied territory. Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged since early last year, particularly in the West Bank, where the latest deaths bring to eight the number of Palestin­ians killed in Israeli incursions since Tuesday. “Two Palestin­ians were killed by live Israeli bullets to the head” in the town of Tulkarem, the ministry said, while the army confirmed a soldier had been “moderately injured by gunshot fragments” during clashes in Nur Shams refugee camp near the town. The Palestinian health min­istry identified the two killed as Osaid Abu Ali, 22, and Abd al-Rahman Abu Daghash, 32. Ibrahim al-Nimer, a resident and representative of the Pal­estinian Prisoners’ Club advo­cacy group in the camp said the “two were civilians”. “The army entered the camp af­ter 2:00am … and demolished streets and some houses in the camp,” Nimer told media. Troops dismantled an “oper­ational command centre” in­side a building in the camp and also uncovered a large number of explosive devices including gas-based explosive devices, the army said in a statement.