Israeli security forces shot and killed two Palestinian men who appeared to be unarmed and surrendering in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to video filmed by Palestine TV that was distributed by Reuters, and video shot by the news agency itself.
The shooting comes amid mounting settler violence and ramped-up operations by the IDF in the West Bank in recent weeks.
The United Nations human rights rights office said Friday it was appalled by the incident, which Palestinian officials said amounted to an execution in “cold blood.” Israeli authorities said the two men were wanted militants who had thrown explosives and opened fire at troops, and that the incident was under review.
The video was shot in the city of Jenin, and one portion has no sound.
It shows two men leaving a building in a crouch with their hands up and quickly lifting their shirts, presumably to show they did not have weapons or an explosive vest.
Approximately half a dozen members of the Israeli security forces can be seen clustered around an armored vehicle and pointing weapons at them.
Two of the armed Israelis kick the Palestinians and appear to instruct them to go back into the building. As the Palestinian men re-enter the building — one man is in a seated position and the other is out of view in the dark interior of the building — the Israeli security forces open fire, with bullets ripping through the body of the seated man and kicking up dust.
A nearby excavator pulls down the metal entrance to the building, and one of the Israelis is seen dragging what appears to be a body out of the rubble.
The IDF and Israeli police issued a joint statement Thursday about the shooting, stating that the operation had targeted “individuals who had carried out terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces” and were part of a “terror network in the area of Jenin.”
“The forces entered the area, enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located, and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours. Following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited,” the statement said. “Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects.”
The statement did not provide any information about why the security forces started shooting.
“The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies,” the statement said.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on X that the security forces have his “full backing.”
“The fighters acted exactly as expected of them — terrorists should die!” he wrote.
The two men killed were Montasir Abdullah, 26, and Yusuf Asasa, 37, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“We’re appalled by the brazen killing by Israeli border police yesterday of two Palestinian men in Jenin in the occupied West Bank in yet another apparent summary execution,” U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said at a briefing in Geneva.
The Palestinian prime minister’s office accused Israel of executing the men “in cold blood.” It called the shooting “an outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Hamas, which did not claim the two men as members, called the killing an “execution.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said earlier this month that settlers staged at least 264 attacks on Palestinians in October — the highest monthly tally since the U.N. began tracking incidents in 2006.
