Israeli forces have been accused of executing two Palestinian men during a West Bank operation, suspecting them of being terrorists, despite their apparent surrender. The incident occurred in the city of Jenin, where gripping footage captured Israeli border police shooting the men at close range after they emerged from a building with raised hands.

The individuals, identified as 26-year-old Mahmoud Qassem Abdallah and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa, were seen lifting their shirts and kneeling, seemingly to demonstrate they were not armed. Subsequently, they lay on the ground before the soldiers instructed them to re-enter the building, where gunfire ensued.

The deaths add to a series of violent incidents in the West Bank, which has seen increased tensions since October 2023. While Israel claims its operations target militants, Palestinians and human rights organizations argue that excessive force is being used, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they are examining the Jenin incident. However, they maintain that the two men were involved in prior attacks against Israeli troops.

The deaths of the two men are the latest in a long-running campaign of terror in the West Bank, which has ramped up since October 2023. Israel says it is cracking down on militants, but Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israel of using excessive force and say dozens of unarmed civilians have been killed.

The IDF said the Jenin incident was under review, but claimed that the two men were terrorists who had earlier led attacks on Israeli troops. 

The IDF and local police claimed the men, who were ‘wanted individuals who had carried out terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces’, had been holed up in a multi-hour ‘surrender procedure’.

A spokesperson said: ‘The forces entered the area, enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours. 

Israeli troops have been accused of executing two unarmed Palestinian men who surrendered during a raid in the West Bank

The men were named as Mahmoud Qassem Abdallah, 26, and Youssef Asasa, 37

‘Following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited. 

‘Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects. The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies.’ 

Both Mahmoud’s and Youssef’s bodies were taken by Israeli troops following the incident that the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank’s governing body, described as a ‘deliberate war crime’.  

A Palestinian Authority spokesman said: ‘Israeli occupation forces executed two young Palestinians in Jenin in cold blood, even after they had turned themselves in.

‘An outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.’

But Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hard-right security minister, said the Israeli troops had his support. 

He said: ‘Lending full backing to the border police and IDF troops who shot at wanted terrorists who were coming out of a building in Jenin.   

‘The troops acted precisely as is expected of them – terrorists have to die’. 

People help clean the site of a reported shooting that left two Palestinians dead during a military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on November 27, 2025

People inspect the site of a reported shooting that left two Palestinians dead during a military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on November 27, 2025

The shooting is part of a larger operation in a northeastern region of the West Bank. Israel’s military has detained more than 100 people since Tuesday in the town of Tubas, according to Abdullah al-Zaghari, spokesman for the advocacy group Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

The military has said the operation was a response to ‘attempts to establish terrorist strongholds and construction of terror infrastructures in the area’. 

On November 19, Palestinian attackers stabbed an Israeli to death and wounded three more at a West Bank intersection before being shot down by troops.

Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which triggered the war in Gaza. 

The latest operation comes amid a rising tide of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. Israeli leaders have played down the settler attacks as the work of a small minority. 

But Palestinians say the attacks are frequent, often in close proximity to Israeli troops, and the settlers are rarely punished.