Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians near the Karmei Tzur settlement in the occupied West Bank, with the army claiming they hurled Molotov cocktails. Palestinian sources dispute the army's account, calling it a field execution and noting that one of the deceased was a sanitation worker.
The incident highlights ongoing tensions and violence in the occupied West Bank, with disputed accounts of events between Israeli forces and Palestinian civilians, and a reported increase in settler attacks.
Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians near the Karmei Tzur settlement in the occupied West Bank on Monday, with the army claiming the individuals hurled Molotov cocktails. The killings occurred amid a surge in settler attacks in the West Bank.
The two slain Palestinians were identified as Ziad Na’im Abdul-Jabbar Abu Daoud, 55, and Ahmad Khalil Rajabi, 20. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that medics were prevented from reaching the victims, and the army later handed over the body of Abu Daoud, who was a sanitation worker for the Hebron City Council.
The army alleged that the vehicle carrying the two men accelerated toward paratroopers near a military roadblock, lightly injuring one soldier. However, eyewitnesses and humanitarian groups disputed this account, describing the killings as a field execution. Israeli Army Radio later admitted that Abu Daoud was not in the car that was targeted but was near it.
Separately, a child was shot and injured by settlers in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and settlers set ablaze a vehicle scrapyard in the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah.