What Is Known About Fathi Khazem’s Killing in Jenin—and What Remains Disputed

Claims that Khazem was shot about 10 times, that medical access was blocked or that his body was taken have not been independently verified in the supplied reporting. The most defensible summary is therefore limited: Israeli forces shot and killed him during the operation, but the alleged knife attack and the precise sequence inside the home remain contested.

Who was Fathi Khazem?

Khazem was also known as Abu Ra’ad and was identified in reporting as a former senior member of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces.

He was the father of Raad Khazem, who carried out the April 2022 shooting on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street, and Abdul Rahman Khazem, who was killed by Israeli forces during a Jenin raid later in 2022.

That family history helps explain why Khazem was prominent in coverage of the operation, but it does not by itself establish that he was wanted for an offense or that he was carrying out an attack when he was shot. The sources provided here do not establish his precise legal or operational status before the raid, nor do they independently confirm reports about any earlier Israeli decision not to target him.

A separate killing near Hebron

The Jenin shooting occurred alongside a separate incident near Sa’ir, north of Hebron. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the person killed there as 17-year-old Karim Sanad Raja Shalaldeh and said another Palestinian man, aged 70, was wounded by settler gunfire.

Accounts also differed over how that confrontation began. Israeli military accounts said Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli civilians and that soldiers were dispatched to the area. Palestinian officials, relatives and local reporting said settlers entered or attacked Palestinian land and that an armed Israeli guarding settlers opened fire during the confrontation.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident. The available reports do not provide a final official finding establishing the shooter’s justification or responsibility.

What the reports establish—and what they do not

The reporting supports three clear conclusions:

• Khazem was killed by Israeli gunfire during an operation in Jenin.
• Israel’s claim that he attempted to stab a soldier is disputed by Palestinian officials and local witnesses and is not independently corroborated in the supplied material.
• The reported number of shots, the alleged obstruction of an ambulance and the removal or withholding of Khazem’s body remain disputed or incompletely documented.

The incidents unfolded amid an escalation of Israeli military raids, Palestinian attacks and settler-Palestinian confrontations in the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Because casualty totals vary according to the source, territory and time period counted, a precise overall toll should be tied to a clearly dated official or United Nations dataset rather than inferred from these incident reports.