Israeli occupation forces (IOF) executed two Palestinian men at point-blank range on Thursday evening in the Jabal Abu Dhuhair neighbourhood of Jenin city, in a shocking act that has drawn accusations of extrajudicial killing.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the victims were identified as 26-year-old Al-Muntasir Billah Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah and 37-year-old Youssef Ali Youssef Assa’sa. Both were shot dead by IOF troops who subsequently seized their bodies.
Video footage shared on social media and by news outlets shows Israeli occupation soldiers firing live bullets at the two men from close range after they were searched upon exiting a commercial storage facility.
The incident occurred during a raid by Israeli special forces, supported by additional military reinforcements, which stormed the neighbourhood near the Jenin refugee camp. Troops surrounded a house, opened live fire, launched airstrikes, and used a military bulldozer to break into the main entrance of a storage area. The two men were then forced out and summarily executed.
The execution-style killing of the two men, especially after they had been searched and posed no apparent threat, is being widely condemned as a clear violation of international humanitarian law. Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions prohibits the wilful killing of persons who are not actively engaged in hostilities.
Additionally, the IOF refusal to return the bodies to their families is considered a breach of the right of families to know the fate of their loved ones, and a form of collective punishment, a practice banned under international law.
The use of live ammunition and airstrikes in a densely populated civilian area highlights a disregard for the principle of distinction, which is fundamental to the laws of armed conflict. This principle prohibits targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure unless they are directly taking part in hostilities.
The Israeli occupation military’s use of a bulldozer to breach the premises, followed by the killing of the detainees, raises serious questions about the proportionality and necessity of force used in the operation. The deployment of undercover agents disguised as civilians further blurs the line between combatants and non-combatants, in direct contravention of international legal norms designed to protect civilian populations.
This latest incident occurs amid growing concerns over widespread and ongoing violations by the IOF in the occupied West Bank. Human rights advocates warn that the lack of international condemnation is fueling a climate of impunity, allowing these unlawful actions to continue without consequence.
Observers stress that such acts not only deepen the suffering of the civilian population but also undermine the credibility of the international legal system designed to protect human rights and uphold the rule of law.
