Jenin   -  Palestinian officials said Israeli forces killed eight people in two separate raids in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, as violence in the occupied territory showed no sign of abating.

Four people were killed in the Jenin area and four in Tubas district when Israeli forces carried out early morning raids, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the health ministry in Ramallah said.

The Israeli army reported its aircraft struck in the Jenin area, but did not give details on casualties. “Four martyrs and three wounded, one of whom is very critical, due to the occupation’s shelling of two vehicles in the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin,” the Red Crescent said in a statement. It later said three more were wounded in Jenin.

The health ministry said: “There are four martyrs and seven wounded from occupation gunfire in the town of Aqaba in Tubas district.”

The ministry later said three more were wounded in Aqaba.

Meanwhile, the United States said it was working “around the clock” to avert an all-out war in the Middle East, as Israel remained on high alert Tuesday for potential Iranian retaliation for two high-profile killings.

US President Joe Biden, whose country has sent extra warships and fighter jets to the region in support of Israel, held crisis talks on Monday with his national security team.

Biden and his top diplomat Antony Blinken sought to calm tensions that have soared since a suspected Israeli attack in Tehran last Wednesday killed Ismail Haniyeh.

Biden called King Abdullah II of Jordan, while Blinken called top officials in Qatar and Egypt, the key intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

“We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message -- all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said after joining other top officials in a White House meeting.