UN says Israel's killing of two Palestinians in occupied West Bank looks like 'summary execution'

The United Nations said on Friday that the killing of two Palestinian men by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank appeared to be a "summary execution”.

"We are appalled at the brazen killing by Israeli border police yesterday of two Palestinian men in Jenin," UN rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva, calling the incident "yet another apparent summary execution", in reference to the killings that took place on Thursday in the city of Jenin. 

He said UN rights chief Volker Turk is calling for "independent, prompt and effective investigations into the killings of Palestinians", and for those responsible for killings and other violations in the occupied West Bank to "be held fully to account”.

Summary execution is a war crime under the Geneva Convention and international law. 

A video has circulated widely on social media showing the two Palestinian men emerging from a building with their arms raised and their shirts lifted, clearly indicating they were unarmed and posed no threat to the Israeli soldiers.

The troops then shoot them dead. 

The Palestinian health ministry identified the victims as Al-Muntasir Billah Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah, 26, and Yousef Ali Yousef Asa’sa, 37. They were shot in the Abu Dhahir neighbourhood of Jenin.

Israeli forces withheld their bodies after the killings.

Officers involved in the incident, reportedly from the "Border Police unit", claimed they fired after the two men failed to follow instructions. 

The Israeli army and police, who were operating jointly in the area, admitted to the shootings, saying an investigation would be launched. 

But Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, backed the officers and welcomed the killings. 

He said the officers “acted exactly as expected of them,” adding on X that “terrorists must die!”

Killings surging 'without accountability'

The UN rights office spokesman said the incident came as "killings of Palestinians by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank have been surging, without accountability, even in the rare cases when investigations are announced". 

West Bank: Israeli forces execute two Palestinians at point-blank range

Read More »

He added that "statements by a senior Israeli government official seeking "to absolve Israeli security forces of responsibility" raised "serious concerns about the credibility of any future review or investigation conducted by any entity that is not fully independent from the government".

The Palestinian Authority condemned the “brutal” field executions as a “war crime”.

Hamas said the killings were not an isolated incident but part of a “systematic campaign of extermination” targeting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The killings took place amid a wide-scale Israeli assault in the northern West Bank, focusing on the city of Tubas and its surrounding towns and villages.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has intensified its already substantial military assaults and presence in the occupied West Bank.

Over the past two years, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and arrested thousands more across the occupied territory.

Earlier this year, the army heavily attacked Jenin and Tulkarm in a massive aerial and ground operation, displacing around 30,000 people and destroying homes on a large scale.