DaysofPal- The execution of two Palestinian men by Israeli forces in Jenin after they had surrendered to the Israeli forces has sparked widespread anger and renewed calls for an international investigation into the event, as it amounts to a clear war crime.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Montaser Billah Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah, 26, and Yousef Ali Yousef Asa’sa, 37, in the Jabal Abu Dhaher area of Jenin.
The army then seized their bodies. Local sources said the two men had surrendered and were unarmed at the time they were killed.
The incident comes amid a large-scale Israeli military offensive that began on Wednesday across the northern occupied West Bank, particularly in the Jenin and Tubas governorates.
The killings triggered sharp reactions from Palestinian political factions, human rights institutions, and officials.
The Hamas Movement said the executions reveal “the criminal mindset” guiding Israeli forces and reflect a complete disregard for Palestinian life and international humanitarian norms.
Hamas added that the act was not an isolated incident but part of a systematic policy of elimination and genocide.
The Movement urged the international community and legal bodies to urgently intervene to halt what it described as Israel’s growing policy of field executions.
The Human Rights and Civil Society Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) also demanded an immediate, independent international investigation, calling the killing a full-fledged war crime.
The department urged that the case be referred to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to probe the Israeli systematic killings across the West Bank.
Rohhi Fattouh, head of the Palestinian National Council, said the two victims were executed after surrendering, highlighting what he referred to as the Israeli army’s ongoing policy of extrajudicial killing.
He noted that hundreds of similar incidents have occurred in the occupied territories without accountability, as cosmetic investigations rarely lead to any punitive measures.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, said the killings demonstrate that Israeli authorities need no additional legal framework to carry out assassinations, field executions, and slow deaths inside prisons.
He added that public support for the killings by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir further proves high-level political complicity in incitement and policies of ethnic cleansing.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the executions, calling them a continuation of a deliberate and systematic Israeli policy of extrajudicial killing that has turned Palestinian territory into an open arena for war crimes.
The ministry urged the prosecution of Israeli political and military leaders responsible for these crimes before relevant international bodies, stressing that they must be held accountable under international law.
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