Border cops suspected of killing 2 terror suspects who surrendered in Jenin: We feared they’d harm us
Border Police officers who are under investigation over the fatal shooting on Thursday of two Palestinian terror suspects in the West Bank’s Jenin, after the latter had surrendered and exited a building with their hands raised, have argued that they had feared the Palestinians would try to harm them, Channel 13 news reports.
The incident was caught on camera and later confirmed by officials, prompting international condemnation.
The Justice Ministry’s Department for Internal Police Investigations has opened a criminal investigation into three Border Police officers involved in the incident.
The deceased, identified by Palestinian media as 26-year-old Mahmoud Qassem Abdallah and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa, were wanted by Israel on suspicion of involvement in bombing and shooting attacks against troops. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group confirmed Friday that the two were members of its military wing.
After previously claiming that the suspects had not followed their instructions, Channel 13 reports that in their questioning by the Department for Internal Police Investigations, the officers said the terror suspects’ home contained weapons and explosives, and they therefore ordered them to go to a specific area.
At a certain point, due to fear of friendly fire, the officers ordered the suspects to move, according to the unsourced report. One of the Israeli officers suspected that one of the Palestinians was trying to escape back into the home, and shot toward his legs.
Other troops heard the gunfire and believed it came from terror operatives, with one declaring: “There’s gunfire toward us.” It was then that officers shot and killed the two suspects, who were later found to be unarmed, the report says.
“We feared that the terrorists were armed. We saw them fiddling with equipment inside the building. We feared they would try harming the forces,” it quotes them as saying.
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