Ref: 138/2022

Date: 25 October 2022

Time: 13:00 GMT

Today at dawn, 5 Palestinians, including 3 civilians, were killed and 20 others, mostly civilians, including 3 children, were wounded by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) fire in Nablus and Ramallah in the West Bank. Among those killed,

two were civilians and two, including a commander in the Palestinian armed groups, were killed in a military operation conducted by IOF in Nablus’s Old City while the fifth person was killed due to excessive use of force in Ramallah, central West Bank. These crimes were preceded by the murder of Tamer Sofian Fawwaz Zaid (33), a member of the so-called “Lions’ Den” armed group, two days ago on 23 October 2022, after detonating an explosive device planted on a motorcycle while he was passing by al-Yasminah neighborhood in the Old City of Nablus.

Since the beginning of October, these crimes have been committed amid a significant escalation in IOF attacks, killings, and assassinations in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, especially in the northern West Bank, upon Israel’s top-level military and political orders. These crimes violate the rules of the international law and international humanitarian law that prohibit this type of killings.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR,) at approximately 00:25, on Tuesday, 25 October 2022, an Israeli special force from “Yamam Unit” sneaked into Nablus using civilian cars; one was detected at Al-Shuhada intersection, central Nablus, when by coincidence there was a joint force of the Palestinian security services. An exchange of fire erupted with the Israeli force, wounding Palestinians, including 4 Palestinian security officers. Meanwhile, another Israeli special force was detected as well inside the Old City after killing two Palestinians namely Hamdi Mohammad Sabri Hamed Sharaf (35) and ‘Ali Khalid ‘Omar ‘Antar (25): Hamdi was shot with a bullet the entered his abdomen and penetrated his chest while ‘Ali was shot in the chest. They were both civilians killed in 2 separate places after leaving a barbershop they worked at in the Old City. This made IOF call for large backups from all axes amid a heavy shooting. IOF then cordoned off an old abandoned house in Hosh al-‘At’oot in the Old City amid violent clashes that killed 2 members of the armed groups: Wadi’a Sbeih Wadi’a Al-Houh (32), a commander in the “Lions’ Den” group who was shot with 5 bullets in his chest and waist near the cordoned house, and Mesh’al Zahi Ahmad Baghdadi (27), who succumbed to his injury in the abdomen and lower limbs in the morning when he was at the entrance to the Old City. Due to IOF shooting during their incursion, 20 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 3 children, were wounded; 3 of them sustained serious injuries. Before withdrawing at 03:00 today, IOF destroyed an old uninhabited house after implanting explosives in it.

The Israeli Occupation Forces announced in a statement that: “A joint force of IDF soldiers, Shin Bet security service agents and anti-terror forces raided a hideaway in Nablus’s old city that was being used as a bomb workshop by central members of Lion’s Den and was blown up by the troops.”

According to the Israeli Hadashot website, the operation conducted by the Israeli forces was supervised by the Israeli Prime Minister Lapid in the presence of the head of Shin Bet and Defense Minister Gantz as well as the commander of the Central Command.

According to PCHR’s investigations into the killing of a Palestinian in Ramallah, at approximately 02:30 on Tuesday, dozens of young Palestinians gathered near the military watchtower established at the entrance to Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, following a protest spontaneously organized against the killing of Palestinians by IOF’s fire in Nablus. The young Palestinians threw stones at the military watchtower, while IOF opened fire at them. As a result, one of the protestors identified as Qusai Mahmoud al-Tamimi (19) was shot with a live bullet in his chest by Israeli soldiers stationed 50 meters away from him. Al-Tamimi was taken to Salfit Governmental Hospital, where he succumbed to his wound.

PCHR condemns the Israeli murders, including extrajudicial execution crimes, and emphasizes that IOF have used this type of crimes for the past years against the Palestinians in light of the international community’s silence, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and inaction to stop these crimes and take practical measures against the Israeli occupation, encouraging Israel to commit further war crimes against the Palestinians.

PCHR calls on the international community to intervene immediately to end assassination crimes against the Palestinians, considering them as a form of summary execution without trial, and bring the perpetrators to trial.

PCHR reiterates its call upon the international community to take immediate action to end Israeli occupation’s crimes and double standards when it comes to international law and urges the ICC Prosecutor to act seriously with regard to the situation in Palestine.  PCHR also demands the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention fulfil their obligations as per Common Article 1 of the Convention, “undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances,” and their obligations under Article 146 of the same Conventions, i.e., to hold accountable persons accused of committing grave breaches of the Convention.