Israeli soldiers appear to kill Palestinian men in West Bank after they surrender

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers on Thursday appeared to kill a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they had surrendered to troops, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed “in cold blood.” The Israeli military said it was investigating.

The killings, captured in a pair of videos shown on two Arab TV stations, came as Israel pressed ahead with its latest offensive in the West Bank, where the army has stepped up 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 has been fighting on a number of fronts as a shaky ceasefire in Gaza moves forward. On Thursday, Israel carried out another round of airstrikes on suspected Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. Ongoing conflicts in the region have fueled concerns that unrest could spill over and undermine the fragile truce in Gaza.

A Palestinian-American teenager held in Israeli detention for nine months was also released on Thursday night. The 16-year-old emerged visibly thin and was embraced by his crying family.

Israeli soldiers accused of executing Palestinian men in West Bank

The Israeli military announced it was opening an investigation into the deaths Thursday of the two men, which Palestinians have called an execution.

In video shown by the Egyptian TV station Al-Ghad, which have no sound, the men are seen on the ground in front of the troops. They are then ordered to the entrance of a garage. Both men lifted up their shirts to show they are not carrying explosives or large weapons, and one of the men held his hands in the air as they moved. As they are on the ground and surrounded by troops, gunshots are heard and the men slump down, apparently lifeless. At least one soldier appears to fire his weapon.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the two men were wanted militants in the northern town of Jenin who had thrown explosives and opened fire at troops.

It said that after the men surrendered and exited a building, “fire was directed toward the suspects.” It said was the incident was “under review” and would be referred “to the relevant professional bodies.”

Palestinians and human rights groups say such investigations yield few results, and Israeli troops are rarely prosecuted.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian prime minister’s office accused Israel of executing the men “in cold blood.” It called the shooting “an outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Palestinian authorities identified the men as Al-Muntasir Abdullah, 26, and Yousef Asasa, 37, and said Israel had taken away their bodies.

Escalation in the West Bank

The shooting is part of a larger operation in a northeastern region of the West Bank. Israel’s military has detained more than 100 people since Tuesday in the town of Tubas, according to Abdullah al-Zaghari, spokesman for the advocacy group Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

The military has said the operation was a response to “attempts to establish terrorist strongholds and construction of terror infrastructures in the area.” On Nov. 19, Palestinian attackers stabbed an Israeli to death and wounded three more before being shot down by troops.

Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the war in Gaza. It has fought militants on multiple fronts, including against Hamas in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The latest operation comes amid a rising tide of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. Israeli leaders have played down the settler attacks as the work of a small minority. But Palestinians say the attacks are frequent, often in close proximity to Israeli troops, and the settlers are rarely punished.

Strikes on Lebanon ahead of the pope’s visit

Israel’s air force carried out another series of strikes in parts of southern Lebanon on Thursday. The military said it struck and dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure, including launch sites storing Hezbollah weapons.

The United Nations on Tuesday said Israel had killed at least 127 civilians, including children, in its strikes on Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect last year. Things escalated earlier this week with a rare strike in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, killing Hezbollah’s chief of staff.

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

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

American teen released from Israeli jail

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

Visibly thin, head shaven and still in a grey jumpsuit, Ibrahim wiped tears away as he was embraced by family members shortly after his release in videos taken by the family. His father, Zaher Ibrahim, kissed his son and began to cry.

“He’s skinny and pale, his eyes are sunken in and he still has signs of scabies,” said Zeyad Kadur, the uncle.

The teen was visiting family in the West Bank with his parents when he was arrested at his family’s home at night for allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and several members of Congress. In an affidavit, Mohammed said he only confessed to stone-throwing after he was threatened by interrogators with a beating.

His family and lawyers said he was held in poor conditions, suffered a scabies infection and lost weight in jail.