UN Condemns Israel's Violent Murder In West Bank

JAKARTA - The United Nations' human rights office on Friday expressed concern over the killing of two Palestinian men by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, and stated that the incident appeared to be a brief execution.

"We are concerned by the heinous killing by Israel's border police yesterday of two Palestinian men in Jenin, the occupied West Bank, in another brief execution," Jeremy kalinc said at a UN briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.

As previously reported, Israeli security forces shot dead two Palestinians who surrendered unarmed in a raid on Israel's occupied West Bank region on Thursday, according to Palestinian TV news footage.

In the footage the two men were seen coming out of a building surrounded by Israeli armed forces in Jenin City, the northern West Bank, while lifting their clothes and lying on the ground, showed surrender.

However, Israeli troops were then seen pointing them back into the building before firing fire from close range.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement the two men were killed in the shooting, identifying them as Montasir Abdullah (26) and Yusuf Asasa (37).

Separately, the military and Israeli police issued a joint statement announcing they had opened an investigation after troops opened fire on suspects leaving a building.

The statement gave no reason why the troops opened fire, nor did they say the two men had lay on the ground before they were directed back into the building and shot.

It said Israeli forces had carried out operations in Jenin territory to arrest people wanted for "terror activities, including throwing explosives and firing security forces," the military and Israeli police said in a joint statement.

The two men shot were wanted people affiliated with "terror networks in Jenin territory," the statement said.

However, the statement did not specify the allegations against the two men, nor did it reveal any evidence related to their alleged relationship with the terror network.

According to the military and police, security forces had surrounded the building where the two men were before starting a "self-defense procedure" that lasted several hours.

"After they came out, gunfire was directed at the suspects," the statement said, adding the shooting was "under review by commanders in the field, and would be handed over to the relevant professional body."