JERUSALEM/ ISTANBUL

The Israeli army executed two Palestinian brothers in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank “without any justification” in June, an investigation by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem found on Wednesday.

Nidal Amirah, 40, and Khaled Amirah, 35, were shot dead by Israeli army forces in the Old City of Nablus on June 10, allegedly for “posing a threat” to soldiers during a raid in the area.

Using extended video footage and eyewitness testimonies, B’Tselem said Israeli soldiers broke into numerous homes in the area and held dozens of residents for interrogation.

According to the group, Palestinian residents began leaving the neighborhood in the morning seeking safety, due to the heavy presence of Israeli forces and fear for their lives amid recurring attacks on civilians during raids.

Around 1 pm local time, medics arrived to help the Qutub family, one of the families attempting to flee, in the presence of journalists documenting the events.

When the medics reached the edge of the neighborhood, Israeli soldiers detained four young men from the family in a nearby alley, while the rest of the family members managed to leave. The medics and journalists remained waiting at the street entrance.

At that moment, Nidal and his brother Khaled arrived to help another family trying to leave, according to B’Tselem.

The rights group said that Nidal was an officer in the Palestinian Authority security forces, but he was not on duty and was unarmed.

A video filmed by journalists shows Nidal, wearing a white shirt, slowly approaching the soldiers with his empty hands raised. He stopped a few meters from the soldiers, and lifted his shirt at their request, as a soldier instructed him to remove his trousers, a request Nidal refused.

At that moment, as seen in the video, Nidal took one step toward the soldiers, and three of them pounced on him and began beating him, according to B’Tselem.

Khaled, also in a white shirt, together with several medics standing at the street corner, tried to approach. The video shows an Israeli soldier pointing his weapon at them, forcing the medics to step back slightly while Khaled continued forward with his hands stretched out.

B’Tselem said six shots were then heard. One bullet is seen striking the ground near Khaled’s feet, another hits a wall next to the group, and shrapnel injures a medic and a cameraman.

Several soldiers, meanwhile, continued beating Nidal as he struggled to protect himself. Other soldiers dragged Khaled into the same alley where the four young men from the Qutub family were being held.

In the alley, soldiers attempted to force Khaled to the ground while one appeared to be choking him. Two shots are heard inside the alley. Shortly after, soldiers dragged Nidal to the alley entrance as he resisted.

B’Tselem said that at that stage, heavy gunfire is heard inside the alley, and dust rises.

The source of the gunfire is outside the camera’s range. A volley of bullets hit Nidal and at least one soldier. Nidal managed to break free amid the chaos, and video shows him limping away but blocked by two soldiers.

Shot in the back

B’Tselem said a forensic analysis of the footage showed that one soldier, standing just a few meters away, fired at Nidal’s back, causing him to fall.

The soldier then moved toward another soldier who was restraining Khaled on the ground and executed him with a point-blank shot to the head, the rights group said.

Medics tried to reach the brothers to provide medical care, but soldiers kept them away at gunpoint.

The video shows Nidal was still alive at that point and might have been saved had soldiers allowed treatment, B’Tselem added.

Additional military vehicles arrived, and troops dispersed those present using live fire and stun grenades.

The Israeli army claimed in a statement that its forces fired at the Amirah brothers while checking two suspects who tried to seize a soldier’s weapon.

A military statement said that the alleged attempt caused several shots to be “accidentally fired,” injuring four soldiers, one moderately and the others lightly, after which troops shot and killed the two brothers.

B’Tselem stressed that forensic evidence and testimonies show that Khaled was executed with a shot to the head at point-blank range while pinned to the ground and posing no threat.

As for Nidal, he was shot in the back from close range after being injured in the leg, while at least two soldiers blocked his escape path, the group said.

It emphasized that the documentation proves the soldiers were the ones who attacked the Amirah brothers, not the other way around.

At least 1,092 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 11,000 others injured in attacks by the army and illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 2023. Over 21,000 people have also been arrested.

In a landmark opinion in July last year, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.