Two Palestinians shot dead in Jenin while attempting to surrender

Two Palestinian men were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a raid in Jenin on Thursday, in an incident captured on video that has prompted renewed accusations of unlawful killings in the occupied West Bank.

According to footage and eyewitness accounts from the scene, the men, identified by the Palestinian Health Ministry as 26-year-old Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa, emerged from a building with their shirts lifted to show they were unarmed.

Journalists in Jenin reported that the pair had been ordered back inside by Israeli forces before being fatally shot moments later.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said the killings amounted to “executions”, noting longstanding criticism that Israeli military reviews of similar incidents rarely lead to prosecutions.

The Israeli army said its troops had been pursuing men “affiliated with a terror network” in the Jenin area and had initiated a “surrender procedure” that lasted several hours. It added that “fire was directed towards the suspects” after they exited the building and said the incident would be examined by commanders and “relevant professional bodies”.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the shootings “heinous extrajudicial killings” and urged the international community to act to “halt the Israeli killing machine”, including through the deployment of UN protection forces. Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, described the deaths as a “shocking crime” carried out “in front of the cameras”.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, however, praised the soldiers, writing on social media that “terrorists must die”.

The incident unfolded as Israel carried out a second day of helicopter- and drone-supported raids across the northern West Bank, part of a sweeping crackdown that has intensified in parallel with the war in Gaza. Large parts of the Tubas governorate remained under effective siege on Thursday, following a major operation launched a day earlier.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least 25 people had been injured and around 100 detained since Wednesday. Residents accused Israeli forces of indiscriminate attacks, blocking ambulances and journalists, and damaging infrastructure, allegations Israel denies, insisting the operations target armed groups.

Violence has surged across the West Bank over the past year, with UN experts and leading human rights organisations warning of escalating abuses. More than 32,000 residents from refugee camps in the northern West Bank have been displaced since January as a result of military incursions and forced evictions.

Human Rights Watch said last week that the removal of families from Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity. The group said Israeli forces had carried out “ethnic cleansing” while global attention remained fixed on Gaza.

Odeh noted that Israeli raids in the West Bank have doubled over the past two years, averaging 47 operations a day. Scores of Palestinians, including an 85-year-old man, were reportedly beaten during the latest Jenin assault.

Meanwhile, UNRWA warned that Israel continues to issue demolition orders despite extensive destruction over the past year. Twelve buildings in the Jenin refugee camp face imminent demolition, with another 11 to be partially torn down. More than 200 structures have been targeted since February, in what UNRWA officials describe as an attempt to reshape the layout of refugee camps in the north.

Amnesty International said the intensified Israeli operations form part of a broader “cruel system of apartheid” against Palestinians and called for urgent international measures to prevent further harm to civilians and to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.