By Ali Sawafta
JENIN (Reuters) -Israeli security forces shot two Palestinian men on Thursday who appeared to be surrendering and unarmed during a raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestine TV news footage showed.
In the footage, the men are seen exiting a building surrounded by armed Israeli forces in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, lifting their shirts and lying on the ground in an apparent surrender. The forces then appeared to direct the men back inside the building before opening fire at close range.
A Reuters journalist in the vicinity saw the men leave the building, appearing to surrender, and later, after hearing shots fired, saw Israeli forces standing near what appeared to be a lifeless body.
The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that the two men were killed in the shooting, identifying them as 26-year-old Montasir Abdullah and 37-year-old Yusuf Asasa.
The Israeli military and Israel Police issued a joint statement announcing that they had opened an investigation after forces opened fire towards suspects who had exited a building.
The statement did not give any reason for why the forces opened fire, nor say that the two men had lain on the ground before they were directed back inside the building and shot.
Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub, speaking by phone, accused Israeli forces of carrying out a “cold-blooded execution” of two young men who he said were unarmed and had surrendered.
He said those who opened fire should face accountability, but expressed doubt that Israeli authorities would conduct a genuine investigation.
Israeli forces had been carrying out an operation in the Jenin area to apprehend individuals wanted for “terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces”, the Israeli military and police said in the joint statement.
The two men who were shot were wanted individuals who were affiliated with a “terror network in the area of Jenin”, the statement said. It did not specify what the two men were accused of nor disclose any evidence of their alleged link with a terror network.
According to the military and police, security forces had surrounded the building where the men were located before initiating a “surrender procedure” that lasted several hours.
“Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects,” the statement said, adding that the shooting was “under review by the commanders on the ground, and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies.”
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir later issued a statement giving his “full backing” to the military and the police unit that was involved in the shooting.
“The fighters acted exactly as expected of them – terrorists should die!,” he wrote on X.
The Jenin raid marks the latest assault in a months-long Israeli campaign across northern West Bank cities. Israeli forces on Wednesday launched an operation on the nearby city of Tubas.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which agreed to a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza last month, condemned the killing of the men in Jenin as an “execution” and urged the international community to intervene to stop what it called Israel’s “escalating field executions.”
The group did not claim the two men as members.
(Reporting by Mohamad Torokman in Jenin, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, and Alexander Cornwell and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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