Israeli military kills two Palestinians in raid

KUFR AQAB, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men on Friday during a raid north of Jerusalem, the Ramallah-based health ministry in the occupied West Bank and relatives said.
“The young man Mustafa Asaad Hamad (22 years old) was killed by Israeli gunfire in Kufr Aqab,” the ministry said in a statement.
In a separate statement, it announced the death of 46-year-old Sufyan Abu Leil, who died “of critical wounds he sustained after being shot by Israeli forces in Qalandia camp this Friday afternoon.”
The Palestinian entity in charge of the area, the Jerusalem governorate, reported that Israeli forces had raided the Qalandia refugee camp, adjacent to Kufr Aqab, and wounded several Palestinians with live fire early Friday.
Israel’s military told AFP it was “looking into” reports of the men’s deaths, and did not specify whether one or several raids took place in that area on Friday.
Hamad’s father Asaad Hamad told AFP at the funeral that the army entered the area at around midnight, causing clashes with local residents, during which his son was shot.
“My son was shot twice in the leg. The bullet hit an artery and he died a martyr,” Asaad Hamad told AFP.
Hundreds of young men attended Hamad’s funeral, chanting “God is the greatest” as his body was carried through the streets of Qalandia camp on a stretcher, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, an AFP journalist reported.
Qalandia refugee camp, Kufr Aqab and other areas around Jerusalem have seen increased Israeli raids since the beginning of 2026 after Israel launched operation “Capital Shield,” which it says aims to make Jerusalem safer.
Since the operation began, the military has arrested dozens of Palestinians and destroyed several buildings it said had been illegally built in Kufr Aqab and Qalandia camp.
Palestinians fear the demolitions will pave the way for Israeli settlers to move into the area, as has happened in parts of east Jerusalem in recent months.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023. It has continued despite an October 2025 ceasefire.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,053 Palestinians, many of them militants, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.