Execution of two Palestinians in Hebron

On Saturday evening, December 6, 2025, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Bab al-Zawiya area in central Hebron (Al-Khalil), in the south of the occupied West Bank, according to medical sources.

The Israeli army stated that the incident occurred following an attack targeting soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade, claiming that one soldier was slightly injured and that the soldiers returned fire at a vehicle, killing the people inside. Later that night, however, a preliminary investigation by the Israeli army revealed that one of the Palestinians killed was a municipal cleaner who was not involved in the attack.

Eyewitnesses and local sources reported that the soldiers were positioned behind concrete blocks and that the vehicle did not pose any immediate threat at the time of the shooting—indicating, they said, that the killing was an on-site execution.

Following the incident, Israeli forces sent additional military reinforcements to the area amid heightened tension.

Israeli soldiers fatally shot 53-year-old Ziad Naim Abu Dawood, a municipal sanitation worker, while he was carrying out his duties. Witnesses said he was left to bleed until he died before his body was handed over to Palestinian Red Crescent teams. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, its crews received Abu Dawood’s body from Israeli forces and transferred him to Hebron Governmental Hospital.

The Palestinian Ziad Abu Dawood was killed by the Israeli forces, who initially claimed he was a partner in a ramming attack. They later retracted this narrative

It was subsequently revealed that Ziad Abu Dawood was a sanitation worker for the Hebron Municipality who happened to be present at the location when the vehicle was fired upon.

The Israeli authorities claimed the vehicle attempted to run over several soldiers in the city center. Ahmad Al-Rajabi, the 20-year-old youth who was driving the vehicle, was also killed, and Israeli forces seized his body.

Investigation of Defense for Palestine:

"Ahmad Khalil Ahmad Rajabi, 17, was killed by Israeli forces on December 6 around 9 p.m. in Hebron city. Ahmad was driving his family's car to visit a friend at Alia Governmental Hospital in the city center, during which Israeli forces allege that Ahmad attempted to run over a soldier. Israeli forces opened fire on the vehicle, killing Ahmad. Ahmad left Alia Governmental Hospital, planning to continue along Beersheba Street and then head to the Old City. As he drove down Wadi al-Tuffah Street and arrived at the checkpoint on Shuhada Street, he saw soldiers stationed across from it. The soldiers were standing in the right lane, while Ahmad was driving in the left. The soldiers yelled at Ahmad to stop when he was beside them in the second lane. The vehicle moved past the soldiers for several meters before Ahmad halted and backed up no more than five meters, when the soldiers immediately began shooting at the car, causing the car to slide. One of the soldiers attempted to open the driver’s door, and as the car skidded, the front driver’s side hit him. He then joined the other five soldiers in shooting at the vehicle. The car kept slowly reversing, swerving slightly downhill until its rear faced Wadi al-Tuffah Street. At that point, an older man, a sanitation worker in the Hebron municipality, was hit by the barrage of bullets fired toward the car. The vehicle eventually stopped in the middle of the road, where the soldiers continued to fire at the car, killing Ahmad. An ambulance arrived, but soldiers fired toward it, preventing it from reaching either Ahmad in the car or the injured sanitation worker. A large number of Israeli army and police units arrived later. At first, the Israeli military stated that a speeding vehicle had opened fire on soldiers in the Bab al-Zawiya area. They later withdrew that claim and issued a new one, claiming instead that the soldiers had shot at a car that attempted to run them over. Ahmad’s father arrived in the Bab al-Zawiya area after seeing a photo of the car circulating on social media. He spoke with the officers, who attempted to justify the shooting by alleging that his son had tried to run over a soldier. The father refuted their claim, explaining that his son had simply been visiting a patient at the hospital and was on his way home. The officers then forced him to leave the area without allowing him to view his son’s body. The soldiers seized the vehicle and most of the nearby shops’ cameras, and took Ahmad’s body and transported it in a military ambulance to an unknown location. Due to the confiscation of Ahmad’s body, DCIP is not able to verify the location or number of bullet wounds that he sustained."

This investigation perfectly aligns with the various videos of the events, which clearly show that the soldiers attacked the car and its driver even as he was complying with their orders. The Israeli soldier’s injury was caused by the loss of control of the vehicle following the attack by the soldiers. Moreover, the injury was minor, as the soldier gets back up and chases the car as it rolls downhill, running and firing at it.

On December 7:

Hebron observed a general strike and shops remain closed in Hebron after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians the revious night in the centre of the city. The strike was called to protest the Israeli army’s killing of two Palestinians under the claim of an attempted 'car-ramming attack.' Hebron’s municipality and the municipal workers’ union also declared a strike within the institution.

Name of the Martyrs:

• Ziad Abu Dawood, 53 y/o
• Ahmad Al-Rajabi, 17 y/o, Body abducted by Israel.