Ref: 48/2023
Date: 04 May 2023
Time: 12:45 GMT
In a new crime of extrajudicial executions “assassinations,” the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 3 Palestinians and wounded 3 others this morning, during IOF’s raid into the Old City of Nablus in the West Bank deep into the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
According to PCHR’s investigations and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, at approximately 07:15 on Thursday, 04 May 2023, an Israeli undercover “Mista’rivim”, an Israeli Special Unit dressed like Palestinian civilians, infiltrated Al-Yasmina neighborhood in the Old City of Nablus and stationed around an old 2-storey house belonging to Ibrahim Ahmed Mohammad Khoura/Jibreel. Some Mista’rivim topped the roofs of nearby houses and tightened the cordon on Jibreel’s house. Moments later, IOF, reinforced by military vehicles and backed by a drone, moved into the area amid heavy shooting and shelling at the cordoned house without asking those inside to surrender. Violent clashes broke out in the area, which extended to several streets in the city, in order to lift the cordon on the house. After their withdrawal at around 08:40 on the same day, Palestinians and ambulance crews pulled 3 bodies from the house that was targeted and sustained severe damage and the bodies belonged to Hasan Suleiman Hasan Qatanani (36) from the new ‘Askar refugee camp, who was shot in the head, chest, abdomen, and lower limbs, Mo’ath Sa’d Nabih Al-Masri (36) from the new ‘Askar camp, who was hit by an explosion in the head and sustained shrapnel wounds in his body, and Ibrahim Ahmad Mohammad Khoura (45), the house’s owner who sustained shrapnel wound all over his body with his head blown off. All killed and wounded were evacuated to the Rafidia Governmental Hospital and the Specialized Arab Hospital in Nablus.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that those killed were members of the Brigades.
In a later statement, IOF said that in a joint activity of the Israeli forces and the Shin Bet, Hasan Qatanani and Mo’ath Al-Masri, who killed 3 Israeli women in the Jordan Valley on 07 April 2023, were targeted in addition to an accomplice namely, Ibrahim Khoura.
It is worth noting that extrajudicial killings are conducted upon Israel intelligence, and those wanted are killed instantly instead arresting them. By this, IOF usurp judges’ role in deciding and executing a death sentence at the same time.
PCHR condemns in the strongest terms the assassination crime and emphasizes that IOF have used this type of crimes in the recent years against the Palestinians in light of international community’s silences, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and inaction to stop these crimes and take effective measures against the Israeli occupation, therefore encouraging Israel to commit further war crimes against the Palestinians.
PCHR reiterates its call upon the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take serious action in the Situation of Palestine, and 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.