Advocates say killing of two Palestinians in West Bank part of Israel’s ‘systematic policy of extrajudicial killings’.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have condemned the “execution” of two Palestinian men by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank this week, saying the incident highlights a “systematic policy” by Israel.
A spokesperson for the UN human rights office on Friday condemned the “brazen killing” in the northern West Bank city of Jenin a day earlier, which was caught on camera, as “yet another apparent summary execution”.
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- list 3 of 3Israel’s push to displace thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank
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“Killings of Palestinians by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank have been surging without any accountability,” Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva.
He said Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,030 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and November 27 of this year, according to the latest UN data. That figure includes at least 223 Palestinian children.
“Impunity for Israel security forces’ unlawful use of force and ever-growing Israeli settler violence must end,” Laurence said.
Israel has faced widespread condemnation since footage from Jenin on Thursday showed its forces shooting two unarmed Palestinian men at close range as they attempted to surrender to the military during a raid.
Witnesses said the men – later identified as Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah, 26, and Youssef Asasa, 37 – had raised their shirts to indicate they were unarmed before Israeli forces ordered them back into a building that they had been holed up in.
They were then shot dead by the Israeli army, the footage showed.
“Evidence & footage show they were unarmed, had surrendered & posed no threat,” Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq said in a social media post on Friday.
“This reflects Israel’s widespread and systematic policy of extrajudicial and wilful killings across the occupied Palestinian territory,” the group said, including in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“We call on the international community to act now, impose sanctions and ensure accountability.”
‘Total impunity’
The Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday, “The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground, and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies.”
But experts have noted that Israel rarely opens criminal investigations into the killings of Palestinians by the military – even when there is footage of the incidents – and soldiers directly involved are seldom held to account.
They also say top members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government have incited violence against Palestinians.
Shortly after the killings in Jenin, Netanyahu’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on social media that Israeli forces “acted exactly as expected of them – terrorists must die!”
Ben-Gvir has been pushing for Israel to impose the death penalty for so-called “terrorism” offences – a measure that rights advocates say would apply “exclusively against Palestinians”.
The killings in Jenin also come as Israeli politicians have been calling for the formal annexation of the West Bank amid the wave of Israeli attacks in the territory.
Shai Parnes, public outreach director at Israeli rights group BTselem, said Israelis enjoy “total impunity” for violence against Palestinians. “Again and again, what we’re seeing is Israel is unwilling and unable to investigate itself,” he told media.
“Every once in a while it’s forced to [investigate] due to international coverage in the media or international pressure by other states,” Parnes said.
“But each and every time, the outcome is pretty much the same. The entire ‘investigating mechanisms’ in Israel are whitewashed … and their goal is to pretend like they’re investigating [while] actually [giving] the perpetrators total impunity.”
He added that Ben-Gvir’s remarks, appearing to celebrate the killings in Jenin, demonstrate that Israel has no intention of conducting a credible investigation.
“We already know what the outcome is going to be since the minister who is in charge of the investigators already declared it was OK,” Parnes said.
