• Three Israelis and dozens of Palestinians injured in overnight clashes.
• Militants opened fire on a Jewish pilgrimage to a shrine in the occupied West Bank.
• Tomb is a flashpoint for violence in the West Bank, and revered as a holy site by some Muslims.

Three Israelis and dozens of Palestinians were injured in overnight clashes after militants opened fire on a Jewish pilgrimage to a shrine in the occupied West Bank, According to the army.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 64 injured Palestinians, the majority of whom were affected by tear gas inhalation.

The Israeli army “escorted the entrance of hundreds of worshippers to Joseph’s Tomb in the city of Nablus. During the event, heavy fire was shot at the worshippers by Palestinian gunmen,” it said in a statement.

Two pilgrims and a commander of the army’s Shomron Brigade were injured, the statement said.

The tomb, which is believed by some to be the last resting place of the biblical patriarch Joseph, is a flashpoint for violence in the West Bank, and revered as a holy site by some Muslims.

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The Israeli army provides security for monthly pilgrimages by Israelis. In May, a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in clashes at the tomb.

The army said it had arrested 12 people in separate operations across the West Bank on Wednesday night, the latest raids in a crackdown triggered by intensifying violence.

Nineteen people — mostly Israeli civilians inside Israel — have been killed since late March, mainly in attacks by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.

Israeli security forces have responded with near-daily raids in the West Bank.

According to the UN, 48 Palestinians have been killed, mostly in the West Bank, including attackers and suspected militants as well as non-combatants such as Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli army fire while covering a raid in Jenin.

Since late March, three Israeli Arab attackers have also been killed.

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