A video clip, released on Thursday evening, showed the occupation army firing at point-blank range at two Palestinian youths in the city of Jenin. The video clip, which was circulated by Palestinian media platforms, showed Israeli soldiers opening fire at point-blank range on two youths after they had raised their hands and surrendered to the occupation army.
Local sources reported that the incident occurred on Thursday in the Jabal Abu Dhahir neighborhood of Jenin, during a large-scale raid by the occupation army in the area.
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that the General Authority for Civil Affairs (governmental) informed it of the “martyrdom of the two young men, Al-Muntasir Billah Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah (26 years old) and Youssef Ali Youssef Asasa (37 years old), by occupation bullets in the Jabal Abu Dhahir area of Jenin, and the detention of their bodies.”
For its part, the occupation army claimed in a statement that "the commanders are conducting a field investigation into the circumstances of the incident (the cold-blooded execution of the two young men) and it will be transferred to the competent authorities for examination."
He claimed that "during an operation by the Border Police and the IDF in the city of Jenin, the forces worked to arrest wanted individuals who carried out terrorist attacks, including throwing explosive devices and firing at security forces," according to his claim.
The occupation army continued its claims: “The forces entered the area and surrounded the building in which they were, and activated procedures aimed at their surrender that lasted for several hours. With the activation of an engineering mechanism, they came out of the building, and after they came out, they were shot at.”
This comes in conjunction with a large-scale Israeli attack launched by the occupation army on Wednesday in the northern occupied West Bank, specifically in the governorates of Jenin and Tubas.
Hamas condemned the execution of the two Palestinian youths by the occupation army on Thursday, saying in a statement that "the occupation forces' execution of two unarmed Palestinian youths in Jenin in cold blood, despite their leaving the house without posing any threat, reveals once again the criminal mentality that governs the occupation's behavior, and its complete disregard for Palestinian blood outside of all human laws and norms."
She stressed that "the brutal military campaign targeting the West Bank governorates, especially its north, proves that the option of resistance is the natural and legitimate response to the occupation's crimes and escalating aggression."
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, on Thursday, considered the execution of two young men by the occupation army in the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank to be a documented and complete war crime. The ministry said in a statement that “the heinous field execution crime committed by the Israeli occupation army against two Palestinian youths in the Jabal Abu Dhahir area near the Jenin camp constitutes a documented and complete war crime.”
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called on Thursday evening for an "urgent and independent" international investigation into the execution, deeming it a "full-fledged war crime."
In a statement, the PLO condemned the "heinous crime" committed by Israeli forces against the two young men, explaining that it occurred "despite their complete surrender and without them posing any threat or danger to the occupation soldiers."
The head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Abdullah al-Zaghari, stated on Thursday that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's support for the execution of two young men in Jenin is evidence of incitement to murder and genocide at the highest levels of the Israeli government.
Al-Zaghari said, "This execution constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity, and falls within the ongoing war of extermination against the Palestinian people."
He explained that "this crime is part of a systematic and escalating policy of executions carried out by the occupation forces, which is accompanied by legislative efforts in the occupying state to enact a law allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners."
These developments come within the context of an ongoing Israeli escalation in the occupied West Bank for more than two years, which has included raids, arrests and assassinations, coinciding with the genocidal war that began in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, and lasted for two years.
According to official Palestinian data, Israeli attacks in the West Bank by the occupation army and settlers have resulted in the martyrdom of more than 1,083 Palestinians, the injury of about 11,000, and the arrest of more than 20,500 people since the start of the war of extermination in Gaza
