Execution in Jenin: When Justice Surrenders to Impunity 

The Jenin incident of November 27, 2025—captured on video—shows two Palestinian men, Al-Muntasir Abdullah and Yousef Asasa, surrendering to Israeli border police before being shot at close range, igniting international outrage and renewed scrutiny of Israeli use of force in the West Bank.

While Israeli officials claim the men were wanted militants and that soldiers acted in self-defense, Palestinian authorities, human rights groups, and the UN describe the killings as an extrajudicial execution and part of a broader pattern of impunity.

The event occurs amid intensified violence, mass displacement under “Operation Iron Wall,” rising settler attacks, economic collapse, and longstanding failures to hold Israeli security forces accountable. Viewed against precedents such as the Azaria case and numerous unprosecuted killings, the Jenin execution underscores systemic issues—erosion of accountability, normalization of violence, and deepening political polarization—and raises urgent questions about international law, civilian protections, and the future of justice in the region.

Execution in Jenin: When Justice Surrenders to Impunity 

The following analysis examines a disturbing incident in the West Bank that has ignited international condemnation and raised fundamental questions about accountability, international law, and the escalating violence in the region. 

The Jenin Incident: What the Videos Reveal 

On November 27, 2025, in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli border police under circumstances that have drawn widespread condemnation. The men were identified as Al-Muntasir Abdullah, 26, and Yousef Asasa, 37. 

Multiple video recordings of the incident, broadcast by Arab media outlets, show a sequence of events that has become the subject of intense scrutiny: 

• The two men emerge from a garage with their hands raised in surrender 

• They lift their shirts to demonstrate they are not carrying explosives or weapons 

• Israeli forces order them to the ground, where one officer kicks them 

• The men are then commanded to return to the garage entrance 

• As they lie on the ground surrounded by troops, gunshots are heard, and the men slump lifelessly 

• At least one soldier is seen firing their weapon at close range 

The Israeli military confirmed the incident is “under review”, stating that the two were “wanted militants” who had allegedly thrown explosives and opened fire at troops earlier. The military’s official statement noted that after the men surrendered and exited a building, “fire was directed toward the suspects”. 

Competing Narratives: National Heroism Versus War Crime 

The incident has sparked dramatically different interpretations from various stakeholders: 

The Official Israeli Positions 

The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the killings, stating the two men were wanted for “terror activities” and belonged to a “terrorist organization operating in Jenin”. They stated a “surrender procedure” had lasted several hours before the men exited the building. 

The soldiers’ legal representative, Sharon Nahari, claimed his clients “genuinely believed their lives were in danger” and that the shooting was conducted “merely for the sake of neutralizing them and not with the intention to kill”. 

In stark contrast, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, praised the officers involved, declaring: “The fighters acted exactly as expected of them – terrorists must die!”. This sentiment reflects a hardening attitude within certain segments of Israeli society and leadership. 

Palestinian and International Response 

The Palestinian Authority condemned the killings as “an outright extrajudicial killing in cold blood” and a “war crime” that violates international humanitarian law. 

The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed alarm, with spokesperson Jeremy Laurence describing the incident as a “summary execution” and noting that Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,030 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023. 

Palestinian Islamic Jihad identified the two men as fighters who had “exchanged fire with Israeli forces until their ammunition was depleted” before being killed in what they termed a “field execution”. 

A Pattern of Violence: The Jenin Killings in Context 

The Jenin killings did not occur in isolation but reflect broader patterns of violence and accountability issues in the West Bank: 

Historical Precedents 

The incident recalls the case of Elor Azaria, an Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in 2017 for fatally shooting an already wounded Palestinian attacker. That case deeply divided Israeli society, with nationalistic politicians defending the soldier. Azaria ultimately served only nine months in prison. 

Similar incidents documented by rights groups include: 

• The March 2024 killing of two unarmed men in Gaza who appeared to be surrendering 

• The 2018 killing of Mohammed Habali, a mentally challenged man shot in the back of the head while walking away from Israeli soldiers 

• The 2020 killing of Eyad al-Halaq, a Palestinian with autism shot by Israeli police in East Jerusalem 

Systemic Accountability Issues 

According to data from the rights group Yesh Din, between 2018 and 2022, the Israeli army received 862 complaints about alleged offenses by soldiers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Of these: 

• Only 258 criminal probes were opened (approximately 30%) 

• Merely 13 indictments were filed, involving 29 soldiers 

• Just one case concerned a Palestinian killing – representing a 0.4% indictment rate for fatal cases brought to the army’s attention 

Tirza Leibowitz of Physicians for Human Rights Israel observed: “The mindset that led to this has existed for a long time. It’s the product of years of separation, subjugation and occupation. Over the years, Israeli society has just gotten used to it”. 

The Broader West Bank Context: Escalating Violence and Displacement 

The Jenin incident occurs against a backdrop of dramatically escalated violence and displacement in the West Bank: 

Operation Iron Wall 

In January 2025, Israel launched “Operation Iron Wall,” a large-scale military operation in the West Bank that resulted in the displacement of approximately 32,000 Palestinians from refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams. This represents the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank in one operation since the 1967 war. 

Human Rights Watch documented that Israeli forces demolished 850 homes and other buildings across these camps, finding that Israel’s actions constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law. 

Settler Violence and Movement Restrictions 

According to UN OCHA, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been injured in settler attacks so far in 2025 – more than double the number injured in settler attacks in all of 2024. The UN also documented severe movement restrictions across the West Bank, particularly in Hebron governorate, where thousands of Palestinians have been affected by intensified restrictions since November 23. 

Economic Collapse 

The UN Conference on Trade and Development reports that the West Bank has experienced its worst economic decline since record-keeping began in 1972. In 2024, GDP shrank by 17%, erasing 17 years of economic progress and pushing unemployment to 35%. 

International Law and the Question of Accountability 

Legal Frameworks 

Under international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, individuals who have surrendered or are hors de combat (out of action) are entitled to protection from violence. The intentional killing of persons who have clearly expressed an intention to surrender constitutes a war crime. 

The law of occupation specifically prohibits forcible displacement of protected persons except temporarily for imperative military reasons, and even then, with strict requirements for safety, adequate accommodation, and return once hostilities cease. 

Mechanisms of Impunity 

Shai Parnes of B’Tselem observed: “Israel has never paid any penalty for this. These crimes can only happen with impunity. Lawmakers and decision makers need to be held to account. That’s not there. Anyone who harms a Palestinian, if it’s a soldier or a settler, does so with impunity”. 

Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament, highlighted the political climate, noting that when she recently attempted to introduce a bill criminalizing torture, she was “attacked viciously by a government minister who said I was trying to tie the hands of the state of Israel in dealing with ‘terrorists'”. 

Table: Comparison of Key Incidents Involving Palestinian Deaths at Israeli Hands 

The International Response and Future Implications 

The international community has expressed growing concern over the escalating violence. The UN Human Rights Office has repeatedly raised alarms about “unlawful lethal force” by Israeli security forces in the West Bank. The International Criminal Court faces its own challenges, with Prosecutor Karim Khan under internal investigation for alleged misconduct, complicating potential accountability mechanisms. 

The dramatically different interpretations of the same visually documented event reveal the profound chasm in perspectives that continues to obstruct resolution of the conflict. Where some see lawful self-defense against terrorists, others see extrajudicial execution and war crimes. 

Conclusion: The Weight of Video in an Era of Impunity 

The Jenin surrender killings represent more than another tragic incident in the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They serve as a microcosm of broader systemic issues: the normalization of violence, the erosion of accountability, the politicization of justice, and the desensitization to Palestinian suffering within segments of Israeli society. 

The presence of video evidence in this case – unlike countless similar incidents that go unrecorded – has created unprecedented visibility. Yet the ultimate significance of this documentation will be determined not by what it reveals, but by what response it provokes from those with power to enact change. 

As the UN’s Thameen Al-Kheetan warned regarding earlier operations in Jenin: “By persistently failing, over the years, to hold accountable members of its security forces responsible for unlawful killings, Israel is not only violating its obligations under international law, but risks encouraging the recurrence of such killings”. 

The challenge now lies not merely in establishing what happened in those final moments in Jenin, but in confronting the systems and ideologies that determine which lives are valued and which deaths are justified.