Jerusalem, Israel - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday that one of its employees was killed during an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, where raids have escalated since last month.

Israel's military called the UN worker a "terrorist" who posed a threat to troops.

The United Nations agency, UNRWA, said the employee was the first to be killed in the Palestinian territory in more than a decade.

But he is among dozens of Palestinians killed during the large-scale Israeli operation which began days ago and is ongoing, with several more Palestinians dead since Wednesday.

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UNRWA identified the employee as Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who worked as a sanitation laborer. It said he was "shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper" in Faraa refugee camp.

A military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, said on social media platform X that during an operation in Faraa "a terrorist was identified hurling explosive devices that posed a threat" to forces, leading troops to open fire to remove the threat.

It was later "discovered he is also an UNRWA employee," Shoshani said.

Jawwad's death is in addition to those of six other UNRWA staffers the UN said were killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday during a strike on a shool-turned-shelter. It was the highest single incident toll for the agency, UNRWA said.

Mourners on Friday carried Jawwad's body through the streets of Faraa, with his blue UN vest resting atop the Palestinian flag that covered him.

In nearby Tubas, funerals also took place for other Palestinians, who were killed by an air strike.

A military statement on Friday said Israeli forces had "conducted a 48-hour counter-terrorism operation" in the areas of Tubas, Tamun and Faraa – northeast of Nablus – in which an air strike killed "five armed terrorists."

UNRWA has more than 30,000 employees in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere. Israel has previously accused it of employing "more than 400 terrorists" in Gaza.