JERUSALEM, Jan 13 — Israeli forces killed three Palestinians who were armed with knives, a rifle and axes and were trying to break into a settlement in the occupied West Bank overnight between yesterday and today, the Israeli military said.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said two were 16-years-old and the third was 19.

The Israeli military said a soldier was wounded in an exchange of fire with the assailants as they breached the outer fence of the settlement Adora, near the Palestinian city Hebron.

Violence in the West Bank, which was already on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, has escalated with frequent Israeli raids and clashes. Peace talks aimed at establishing an independent Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, broke down in 2014. — Reuters