On November 27, 2025, the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank was thrust into the global spotlight after Israeli security forces shot and killed two Palestinian men during a military raid. The incident, captured on video and widely disseminated across news outlets and social media, has ignited fierce debate and condemnation from Palestinian authorities, human rights organizations, and international observers, while receiving open support from Israel’s far-right leadership.
The two men, identified by the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Palestinian Authority as 26-year-old Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa, were killed in what many witnesses and journalists have described as an apparent surrender. According to reporting from Al Jazeera, journalists in Jenin observed the men “pull their shirts up, showing that they were unarmed” before the military ordered them back into the building they had been holed up in. Moments later, both men were shot dead. Video footage aired by multiple outlets and circulated on social media corroborates these accounts, showing the men emerging with hands raised, kneeling, and lifting their shirts before being directed back inside, where gunfire soon erupted.
The Israeli military, in a joint statement with the police, offered a different account. They stated that their troops had “pursued wanted individuals who were ‘affiliated with a terror network’ in the Jenin area and had ‘initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours.’” After the men exited the building, “fire was directed towards the suspects.” The military confirmed that the incident is currently under review by field commanders and will be transferred to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
The killings have drawn immediate and forceful condemnation from Palestinian officials. The Palestinian Authority labeled the incident a “heinous extrajudicial killing” and a “deliberate Israeli war crime,” calling for urgent international intervention. Their statement urged the global community “to take immediate action to halt the Israeli killing machine” and to impose protection mechanisms for Palestinians, including the deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces. Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian National Initiative, was equally forthright, stating on social media, “The Israeli army executed two Palestinian men after they surrendered and were arrested in Jenin, in front of the cameras. How can anyone stay silent about the Israeli war crimes?”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed unequivocal support for the actions of the Israeli forces involved. Writing on social media, Ben-Gvir declared, “The fighters acted exactly as expected of them – terrorists must die!” His comments reflect a broader hardline stance within segments of the Israeli government, especially as violence in the West Bank has intensified in the shadow of the ongoing war in Gaza.
This deadly incident is not an isolated case but rather part of a broader and escalating pattern of violence in the occupied West Bank. According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces have ramped up military operations in the region, deploying attack helicopters and drones in repeated raids across the northern West Bank for a second consecutive day. The military crackdown, which intensified earlier in the week with a wide-scale operation in the Tubas governorate, has resulted in at least 25 Palestinians injured and 100 detained since November 26, 2025, as reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel maintains that these operations are aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed groups responsible for attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers. However, residents and human rights organizations argue that the military has carried out indiscriminate attacks against civilians, blocked access for journalists and ambulances, and caused widespread damage to infrastructure. The northern West Bank, and particularly its refugee camps, has borne the brunt of this violence. Since January 2025, approximately 32,000 residents from several refugee camps—including Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams—have been forcibly evicted and barred from returning, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW has gone further, describing these forced evictions and the broader Israeli military campaign as war crimes and crimes against humanity. “With global attention focused on Gaza, Israeli forces have carried out war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that should be investigated and prosecuted,” an HRW official stated. Amnesty International has echoed these concerns, characterizing the intensified Israeli military operations as part of “Israel’s cruel system of apartheid against Palestinians” and calling for immediate international action to end the occupation of Palestinian territory.
On the ground, the frequency and severity of Israeli raids have increased dramatically. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reported that there are now, on average, 47 Israeli raids on Palestinian communities every day, a figure that has doubled over the past two years. During this week’s military assault alone, scores of Palestinians—including an 85-year-old man—were reportedly beaten by Israeli soldiers. “This raid is more severe than other raids that are happening across the occupied West Bank. It is certainly the Israeli army flexing its muscle,” Odeh observed. “What we’re seeing is an escalated level of violence meted out to civilians.”
The humanitarian situation in Jenin continues to deteriorate. Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA affairs for the West Bank, revealed that twelve buildings in the Jenin refugee camp are slated for demolition later this week, with another eleven set to be partially demolished. Since February 2025, more than 200 buildings in the camp have received demolition orders. “This systematic destruction goes against the basic principles of international law, and only serves to tighten the control of Israeli forces over the camps in the long term,” Friedrich wrote on social media.
The cycle of violence in the West Bank has been further exacerbated by the fallout from the Hamas attack on southern Israel in October 2023, which triggered a devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza. According to United Nations figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since then, including both armed group members and civilians. In the same period, at least 44 Israelis—including soldiers and civilians—have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, as reported by Israeli authorities.
As the world’s attention remains fixed on the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the events in Jenin are a stark reminder of the relentless and escalating violence in the West Bank. The international community now faces mounting pressure to intervene and address what human rights groups and Palestinian officials describe as a dire and deteriorating situation for Palestinians living under occupation.
The deaths of Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah and Youssef Asasa have become a flashpoint, symbolizing the broader struggle, the deepening divisions, and the urgent calls for accountability and protection in the occupied territories. The coming weeks will likely reveal whether the promised investigations yield any meaningful change—or if, as many critics fear, the cycle of violence and impunity will continue unchecked.
