Airstrike kills 5 in West Bank; Israel says they were planning an attack

An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank killed five Palestinians, according to Israel's army and Palestinian media, as violence flares in the Israeli-occupied territory.

The Israeli army said its forces struck a vehicle carrying five militants in a rural area northwest of the city of Tulkarem in the northwest West Bank early Saturday morning, as the occupants were on their way to carry out an attack.

According to an Associated Press journalist and witnesses, the blast took place along a road connecting the Palestinian villages of Zeita and Qaffin.

I was going to work in the morning and I heard an explosion here next to the house, said Taiser Abdullah, a Zeita resident.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the five slain Palestinians were taken to a nearby hospital, and that four of the bodies were burned and charred beyond recognition.

The Palestinian health ministry has not commented on the deaths.

Over 590 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli f