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.

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 40 injured by Israeli forces during a major operation in the Jenin area in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation there.The Israeli military launched this week a raid in the Jenin area,

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the assault on Jenin would be “extensive and significant,” as the military erected new checkpoints across the West Bank.

At least 10 people have been killed in the raids, and more than 40 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Dozens have been arrested, Palestinian officials told the Wafa news agency.

Israel's Operation Iron Wall targets Jenin resistance fighters, with direct coordination and complicity from the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli military killed two Palestinian fighters in the West Bank that it said had been involved in a deadly shooting of Israeli civilians as a major" anti-terror" operation in Jenin entered a third day.

Palestinian Authority security forces exited the area following a month-long operation of its own against local Palestinian terror groups.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Thursday that the oil-rich kingdom stands by Lebanon, but stressed that the war-ravaged, crisis-ridden country needs to adopt necessary reforms.

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.

The United States' new top diplomat Marco Rubio reaffirmed the country's "unwavering support" for Israel, days into a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a large-scale raid in the occupied West Bank.