Invading Israeli forces started withdrawing from the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, as the U.N. rights chief called on Tel Aviv to halt violence on Tuesday.

The raid on the Jenin refugee camp, launched early on Monday under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government, employed hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets.

"Israeli forces have started withdrawing from Jenin camp," an army spokesperson told AFP late on Tuesday night, without offering further details.

Hours earlier, explosions had been heard from the camp and a drone hovered overhead, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Palestinian health ministry said two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, taking the total death toll to 12 since the start of the raid that displaced them from their homes.

"In the last five years, this is the worst raid," said Qasem Benighader, a nurse at a hospital morgue.

The army claimed it had uncovered militant hideouts, arms depots and underground shafts used to store explosives.

'Cut off from world'

The Palestinian foreign ministry labeled the escalation "open war against the people of Jenin."

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders also condemned Israeli forces for firing tear gas inside Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin, calling it "unacceptable."

On Tuesday, shops in Jenin were shuttered amid a general strike and the near-empty streets were littered with debris and burned roadblocks.

The army said it does not intend to stay in the camp housing about 18,000 people but was ready for prolonged fighting.

"The urgency is inside the camp, where there is no electricity, no water, and no roads for those who need to go to hospital," Jenin mayor Nidal Abu Saleh told AFP.

Violence in Israel, West Bank 'must stop': UN rights chief

Meanwhile, the U.N. human rights chief denounced the latest cycle of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, saying the killings and injuries must cease.

"The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and car ramming attack in Tel Aviv worryingly underscore an all too familiar pattern of events: That violence only begets more violence," Volker Turk said in a statement.

"The killing, maiming and the destruction of property must stop."

A car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv wounded seven people on Tuesday before the suspected assailant was shot dead.

The attack came on the second day of the biggest military operation in years in the occupied West Bank, with Israeli forces killing 10 people in a "counter-terrorism" operation in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday.

Turk said some of the methods and weapons used in the Jenin raid "are more generally associated with the conduct of hostilities in armed conflict, rather than law enforcement."

"The use of airstrikes is inconsistent with rules applicable to the conduct of law enforcement operations. In a context of occupation, the deaths resulting from such airstrikes may also amount to wilful killings," he said.

Turk said Israeli forces in the West Bank needed to abide by international human rights standards on the use of force.

"These standards do not change simply because the goal of the operation is stated as 'counter-terrorism'," he said.

As the occupying power, "Israel must also ensure timely access to medical care to all those injured," he added.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council will meet behind closed-doors on Friday to discuss the Middle East, diplomats said, following violence in Jenin.

The meeting was requested by the United Arab Emirates "in light of the alarming developments in Palestine," diplomats said.

Limited medical access

Christian Lindmeier, the spokesman for the U.N.'s World Health Organization, said that the destruction of infrastructure, including roads in Jenin, was restricting access for medical teams.

"Ambulances with medical teams have been prevented from entering parts of the refugee camp, including to reach persons who have been critically injured," he said.

"At least two hospitals have been affected with attacks involving the use of ammunition and gas canisters," he added.

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity condemned a "denial of medical access" in Jenin.

"Ambulances have been rammed by armored cars and patients and health care staff have routinely been denied entry and egress to the camp," said Jovana Arsenijevic, MSF operations coordinator in Jenin.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Israeli security forces must ensure Jenin had unimpeded access to health services, shelter, food and water.

"Ambulances and first responders must have unhindered access to the wounded, and be able to provide emergency care without putting their own lives at risk," the ICRC said.

Around 3,000 people had fled their homes in the refugee camp, said the deputy governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Roub.

Imad Jabarin, one of those leaving in the rubble-strewn camp, said "all aspects of life have been destroyed, there is no electricity and no communications... we are cut off from the world to some extent."

The northern West Bank has seen a recent spate of attacks on Israelis as well as Zionist settler violence targeting Palestinians.

The Israel-Palestinian conflict has worsened since early last year, and escalated further under the Netanyahu government that includes extreme-right allies.

The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all land it seized in 1967 and to dismantle all Zionist settlements.

Netanyahu, however, has pledged to "strengthen settlements" and expressed no interest in reviving peace talks, which have been moribund since 2014.

At least 190 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed this year, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians and three members of the Arab minority.