Israeli forces kill Palestinian men in West Bank after they appear to surrender : NPR

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank as they surrendered to troops, with Palestinians alleging the men were killed “passively.” The Israeli military said it was investigating.

The killings, captured on video shown on two Arab TV stations, came as Israel was moving for its latest offensive in the West Bank, where the army has increased its activities over the past two years. 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.

Israel is fighting on multiple fronts as the shaky ceasefire in Gaza drags on. On Thursday, Israel launched another round of airstrikes on suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Ongoing clashes in the area have raised concerns that unrest could spread and undermine the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

A Palestinian-American teenager who was held in Israeli custody for nine months was also released Thursday night. The 16-year-old boy looked thin and was embraced by his crying family.

Israeli forces accused of killing Palestinian men in the West Bank

The Israeli army and national police announced they were opening an investigation Thursday into the deaths of two men who were shot by members of the Border Police, a special unit that often works with the Israeli military.

In a video shown on Palestine TV, which has no sound, two men come out of a garage and raise their hands and lift their shirts to show that they are not carrying explosives. He is ordered to the ground and kicked by a policeman. They are then ordered back to the garage. In a video shown by Egyptian TV station Al-Ghad, people are ordered to return to the entrance of the garage. As soon as they are on the ground and surrounded by soldiers, gunshots are heard and the men fall down, apparently lifeless. At least one soldier is seen firing his weapon.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the two men were wanted terrorists who threw explosives and opened fire at soldiers in the northern city of Jenin.

It said that after people surrendered and exited a building, “fire was fired in the direction of the suspects.” It said the incident was “under review” and would be “referred to the relevant professional bodies.”

Palestinians and human rights groups say such investigations yield little results and Israeli soldiers are rarely prosecuted.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the National Police, praised Israeli forces, saying they had “acted exactly as they are expected to – the terrorists must die!”

In Ramallah, the Palestinian Prime Minister’s office accused Israel of “passively killing” those killed. It called the shooting “an extraordinary extrajudicial killing in gross violation of international humanitarian law.”

Palestinian officials identified the men as 26-year-old al-Muntasir Abdullah and 37-year-old Yusuf Asasa and said Israel had taken their bodies.

The incident is reminiscent of the case of Elor Azaria – a soldier who was convicted of murder in 2017 for shooting an already wounded Palestinian attacker. That case deeply divided the country, with nationalist politicians defending the soldier. Azaria was released from prison early after serving nine months of his sentence.

rise in the west bank

The shooting is part of a larger operation in the northeastern region of the West Bank. Israeli forces have detained more than 100 people in the city of Tubas since Tuesday, according to Abdullah al-Zaghari, spokesman for the advocacy group Palestinian Prisoners Club.

The army said the operation was a response to “efforts to establish terrorist strongholds and create terror infrastructure in the area”. On 19 November, Palestinian attackers stabbed an Israeli to death and wounded three others at a West Bank intersection before being shot by soldiers.

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

The latest operation comes amid a growing wave of violence against Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Israeli leaders have downplayed the settler attacks as the work of a small minority. But Palestinians say attacks occur frequently, often close to Israeli troops, and settlers are rarely punished.

Attacks on Lebanon ahead of Pope’s visit

Israel’s air force carried out another series of strikes in parts of southern Lebanon on Thursday. Israel says its ongoing attacks are aimed at preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding after last year’s devastating war.

But the United Nations said Tuesday that Israel has killed at least 127 civilians, including children, in its attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect a year ago. The situation worsened earlier this week in a rare attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut, which killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff.

On Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticized Hezbollah for not disarming in a rare rebuke of the group, saying the Iran-backed militants have failed to stop Israeli airstrikes, protect the Lebanese people or even protect the lives of their own leaders.

Pope Leo XIV is due to visit the country on Sunday, when he will meet with the crisis-hit country’s political and religious leaders.

American teenager released from Israeli jail

American teenager Mohammed Ibrahim, held in Israeli custody for nine months, was released Thursday evening and immediately hospitalized, his uncle told the AP.

Ibrahim, appearing gaunt, with his head shaved and still dressed in a gray jumpsuit, wiped away tears as he was embraced by family members in a video taken by his family shortly after his release. His father Zaher Ibrahim kissed his son and started crying.

“He is thin and pale, his eyes are sunken in and he still has signs of scabies,” said uncle Zeyad Kadur.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and several members of Congress, the teen was visiting family in the West Bank with his parents when he was arrested at his family’s home the night before on charges of throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the West Bank. In an affidavit, Mohammed said he confessed to throwing the stones only after interrogators threatened to beat him.

His family and lawyers said he was kept in poor conditions, contracted scabies and lost weight in prison.