JERUSALEM >> Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shooting attack in the northern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday as Israel pressed ahead with a military operation that has forced many people to flee their homes and caused widespread destruction.

The attack came two days after Israel announced an eastward expansion in its campaign, which is targeting militants, and which Palestinians have said is one of the most severe in the West Bank in years.

Eight other soldiers were injured in the attack Tuesday, including two who were in serious condition, the military said in a statement. The assailant, the military added, was later killed in an exchange of fire.

It was unclear whether the assailant was a member of a militant group or had acted alone. But Islamic Jihad and Hamas, two groups that have grown in power in the northern West Bank, called the attack “heroic.”

On Sunday, Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli military, posted a video of a controlled demolition in the Jenin camp, a neighborhood where militants had grown in numbers in recent years. Adraee said 23 buildings used by militants were targeted, among the largest-scale controlled demolitions Israel has carried out in the West Bank in recent years.

Israel launched its operation on Jan. 21, two days after a ceasefire came into effect in the Gaza Strip. The beginning of the operation focused on the Jenin camp and it has expanded to the towns of Tulkarm in the west and Tamun in the east.