Released Palestinian prisoners react from inside a vehicle after leaving the Israeli military prison, Ofer, amid a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 26, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Beitunia: Palestinian militants shot and killed two Palestinian men in the West Bank Friday evening after accusing them of collaborating with Israel, according to residents in the area and videos circulating on social media.
A Palestinian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the two men had been killed and that the videos posted to social media were authentic. The official declined to comment on the motive for the killings but said security forces were investigating, though they had not made any arrests.
Around 9 pm Friday, masked assailants dragged the two men to the main entrance of Tulkarem refugee camp, shouting, "Collaborators! Collaborators!" residents in the camp said.
As a crowd formed around them, the assailants beat both men and shot them about a dozen times each, according to residents. Afterward, others from the crowd spat and stomped on their corpses, residents said. Videos posted to social media show men hanging the two men's bodies from an electrical tower near the entrance of the camp.
"Who are they? They are collaborators!" one man yelled as he kicked one of the bodies, one of the videos shows.
The killings come as tensions have risen in the West Bank since the militant group Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Israel Oct. 7. Israel retaliated by launching a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory the group controls.
Since the attack, tensions in the West Bank have flared. Israeli security forces have carried out daily raids, erected scores of new checkpoints and enforced curfews for Palestinian residents in some areas of the territory. Violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has also reached record highs, according to the United Nations.
In Tulkarem refugee camp, home to more than 20,000 people in the northwestern area of the West Bank, the Israeli military has conducted frequent raids, arresting dozens of people and stoking unease among residents.
According to three residents of the camp, the two men who were killed Friday were kidnapped by Palestinian militants this month. The militants suspected that the men had provided information to Israeli security forces that led to a deadly raid at the camp, the residents said.
The New York Times could not immediately reach the militant group involved or the relatives of the two men who were killed.
Later Friday night, some people took down one of the bodies and tried to bury it, according to Hassan Hamdan, a resident at the camp.
"These guys felt sorry for him," Hamdan said. "But the residents did not allow them to bury him in the camp's cemetery."