Israeli forces kill two in Jenin

Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian men during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin after the men appeared to surrender, footage and witnesses show. Video broadcast by Palestine TV captured the men emerging from a building surrounded by armed Israeli personnel, lifting their shirts and lying on the ground in apparent surrender. The footage then shows forces apparently directing the men back inside the building before opening fire at close range.

A journalist present saw the men leave the building appearing to surrender and later, after shots were heard, observed Israeli forces near what appeared to be a lifeless body. The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead as 26-year-old Montasir Abdullah and 37-year-old Yusuf Asasa. Palestinian officials said both men were killed in the shooting.

The Israeli military and Israel Police said in a joint statement that they had opened an investigation after forces fired toward suspects who had exited a building, but the statement did not explain why the forces opened fire or mention the men’s apparent surrender shown on video. Authorities said security forces had surrounded the building and initiated a “surrender procedure” that lasted several hours before the shooting.

Israeli officials described the operation in Jenin as aimed at apprehending individuals wanted for “terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces.” The joint statement said the two men were wanted and allegedly affiliated with a “terror network in the area of Jenin,” but gave no details of specific accusations or evidence linking them to such activity. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir later issued a statement expressing his “full backing” for the military and police unit involved.

The incident is the latest in a months-long campaign of Israeli operations across northern West Bank towns; security forces recently conducted an operation in nearby Tubas. Palestinian militant group Hamas, which had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza last month, condemned the killings as an “execution” and called on the international community to intervene to halt what it termed Israel’s “escalating field executions.” Hamas did not claim the two men as members.

The shooting has heightened tensions and drawn international attention amid ongoing Israeli security operations in the West Bank. With an investigation announced by Israeli authorities but few public details released, questions remain over the circumstances that led to force being used against men who, according to footage and eyewitness accounts, appeared unarmed and in the act of surrender.