Misuse of Firearms: Two Persons Killed, including a Policeman in Jenin

Field Update

08 November 2022

At dawn today, two Palestinians were killed, including a policeman, after their vehicle was exposed to gunfire by unknown gunmen in the town of Silat al-Harithiya, west of Jenin. This attack is part of state of misuse of firearms and assault on the rule of law in the occupied Palestinian territory.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 02:40, on Tuesday, 07 November 2022, masked gunmen opened fire at two persons in a “Peugeot” vehicle nearby the Grand Mosque in Silat al-Harithiya town, west of Jenin, in the northern West Bank. As a result, they sustained gunshot wounds to various parts of their bodies and were taken to Jenin Governmental Hospital where they were pronounced dead. The victims were: Yasser Jamal Yousuf Jaradat (29), from Silat al-Harithiya town and works as a police officer in the Palestinian Police (General Investigations), and Ibrahim Mahmoud Ahmad Yassin (28) from ‘Anin village, west of Jenin.

Palestinian police spokesperson Colonel Louay Irzeigat said that the police and the security services opened an investigation into the incident and started search and investigation procedures to capture the perpetrators and the background of the killing.

PCHR expresses its concern towards the continued incidents of misuse of firearms and the growing phenomenon of security chaos, and the assault on the rule of law, a matter that poses a real threat to life, the rule of law and Palestinian community peace.

PCHR calls upon the Palestinian Authority to take serious steps to end the state of proliferation of weapons and promptly impose the rule of law in order to maintain civil peace in light of the recent increase in murder crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory.