Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

Israeli forces executed two unarmed Palestinians at point-blank range after they surrendered in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday.

The killings were captured on video, which showed the two men emerging from a building with their arms raised and their shirts lifted, clearly indicating they were unarmed and posed no threat to the soldiers.

The troops then shoot them dead. 

The Palestinian health ministry identified the victims as Al-Muntasir Billah Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah, 26, and Yousef Ali Yousef Asa’sa, 37. They were shot in the Abu Dhahir neighbourhood of Jenin.

Israeli forces withheld their bodies after the killings.

Read more: Israeli forces execute two surrendered Palestinians at point-blank range

Palestinian media reported that Israeli military vehicles unleashed heavy fire on areas southeast of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Residents said the bombardment caused panic among civilians and added to the mounting destruction in a region already battered by sustained Israeli attacks.

The Israeli army announced plans to demolish 24 buildings in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank citing what it called “necessary operational reasons”.

Troops continue their military campaign in the Tubas Governorate for a third consecutive day, part of a wider escalation in the northern West Bank.

Palestinians say these actions form part of an ongoing Israeli campaign over the past two years, involving raids, arrests and targeted killings, coinciding with the genocidal war Israel has waged in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli settlers attacked a small shop east of Ramallah early on Friday, leaving the place ransacked.

Local sources told the agency that a group of settlers slipped into the area between Deir Jarir and Silwad and targeted a beverage shop, smashing stock and equipment.

Palestinian youths confronted the settlers and eventually pushed them out of the area, highlighting once again the routine violence Palestinians face under Israel’s settlement expansion.

A Palestinian man was killed after an Israeli drone fired on the town of Bani Suheila in southern Gaza.

Doctors at Nasser Medical Complex confirmed that the victim died after an Israeli occupation army drone struck inside the so-called “yellow line” zone in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.

The Israeli army claimed that six soldiers were injured during armed confrontations with local fighters in the occupied southern Syrian village of Beit Jen.

The military said that three of the wounded, including two officers, were in serious condition, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. Another soldier was moderately injured, while two more, among them an officer, sustained lighter wounds.

According to the army’s account, a unit from the 55th Paratroopers Brigade detained two brothers linked to the Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya group. As the soldiers began pulling out of Beit Jen, gunfire erupted, triggering Israel to send in fighter jets and drones that carried out strikes on locations where the opposing gunmen were believed to be positioned.

The army added that the fighters targeted an Israeli Humvee during the exchange, and that the vehicle was later hit by Israeli fire.

Jewish settlers stole two cows belonging to farmer Abdul Fattah Muhammad Zeidan in the Wadi Qana area of Deir Istiya, northwest of Salfit, on Thursday evening.

Zeidan told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that settlers slipped into the grazing area, took the animals and then fled towards nearby outposts.

Nazmi Al-Salman, an activist who monitors settler expansion, told Wafa: “The theft of the cows comes within the framework of a systematic policy aimed at putting pressure on farmers and forcing them to leave their lands. These practices are increasing in Wadi Qana, in an attempt to impose a new reality that serves colonial expansion in the region.”

Wadi Qana, one of Salfit’s key agricultural zones, has faced repeated settler attacks targeting farmers, crops and livestock, part of what Palestinians say is a wider campaign to empty the area for further Israeli settlement growth.

Israel is still waging a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza despite the fact that a ceasefire in the enclave is entering its second month and all living Israeli captives have been released, Amnesty International has said.

“The ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said in a statement on Thursday. 

"While Israeli authorities and forces have reduced the scale of their attacks and allowed limited amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the world must not be fooled. Israel’s genocide is not over,” she added.

Amnesty in December 2024 deemed Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide. That judgment was reaffirmed by the United Nations’ top investigative body on Palestine and Israel in September when it ruled that Israel is guilty of the crime of genocide in the strip. That view has been shared by dozens of world leaders, historians, human rights experts, and genocide scholars. 

Read more: Israel's genocide in Gaza continues as Palestinians face 'slow death', Amnesty says

Anadolu Agency said Israeli military aircraft swept over Tubas and the Al-Far’a camp, unleashing bursts of machine-gun fire into the sky above the northern occupied West Bank. Residents reported the noise echoing across the area as troops tightened their grip on the governorate.

The Israeli army has kept its operation in Tubas running for a third consecutive day, extending a campaign that Palestinians say has brought sweeping raids, collective punishment and yet another round of escalating aggression across the occupied territory.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza: 

• Palestinian outlets say Israeli occupation forces stormed homes in the Al-Far’a camp, south of Tubas, forcing families into the street as troops swept through the area.

• The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out more than 200 raids, arrests and searches across the northern occupied West Bank during its three-day operation, as local communities accused soldiers of killing young Palestinians on the spot.

• Residents in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, reported clashes between young Palestinians and armed settlers, unfolding at the same time as Israeli troops pushed into several towns and villages across the territory.

• Off Gaza’s southern coast, Israeli naval vessels fired towards the shores of Khan Younis, continuing a pattern of intimidation and blockade enforcement.

• Amnesty International said on Thursday that Israel was "still committing genocide" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite last month’s ceasefire agreement.