United Nations Condemns the "Outrageous Killing" of Two Palestinians in the West Bank

SadaNews - The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed its shock today (Friday) at the killing of two Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, stating that the incident appears to amount to a level of "extrajudicial execution."

UN spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said at a news briefing in Geneva: "We are appalled by the outrageous killing perpetrated by the Israeli police yesterday of two Palestinian men in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, in what appears to be another extrajudicial execution."

The UN called for an investigation into the incident. Footage from "Palestine TV" showed that Israeli security forces fired at the two Palestinian men yesterday (Thursday) after they reportedly surrendered and were unarmed during a raid in the occupied West Bank.

The two men are seen in the filmed footage exiting a building surrounded by armed Israeli forces in the city of Jenin in northern West Bank. They raised their shirts and lay on the ground in apparent surrender. The troops then seemed to direct the men back into the building before shooting them from close range.

A journalist from Reuters witnessed the two men leaving the building, appearing to surrender. Later, after hearing gunfire, he saw Israeli forces standing near what appeared to be a "lifeless body."

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated in a report that the two men were killed in the gunfire, identifying them as 26-year-old Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa."