On November 25, Israeli forces assassinated a Palestinian youth in the village of Merka, south of Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank. Israeli forces surrounded a Palestinian house, before armed clashes broke out, including aircraft bombing and the firing of portable missiles ( “Energa” anti-armor grenades) at the besieged target, which ultimately led to the assassination of Abdul‑Aziz.

They later seized his body before withdrawing.

Abdul‑Aziz was killed inside a besieged home, with no attempt to abduct him alive, and that his body was taken away by the army, denying his family the right to bury him.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that Sultan Nidal Abdul‑Aziz, 22, from the town of Baqa al‑Hatab east of Qalqilia, was killed by Israeli gunfire during the siege.

The assassination of Abdel Aziz comes after 15 months of persecution, against the backdrop of his implementation of the “Shakush” commando operation in the “Kadumim” settlement, in which a settler was killed after being attacked with a hammer. During the period of his persecution, Abdel Aziz’s family was subjected to multiple forms of harassment, including the arrest of his mother and sister several times, in addition to the bombing of the family’s three-story house in Baqa al-Hatab last May.

IDF Statement:

According to the Israeli military, Abdul‑Aziz was involved in an attack on August 18, 2024, in which an Israeli colonizer was killed inside the industrial zone near the illegal colony of Kedumim. The incident was widely referred to in Israeli media as the ‘hammer operation,’ after reports that the attacker used a hammer in the assault.”

Broader context:

Such targeted killings are part of Israel’s broader campaign in the West Bank, where military operations have intensified since October 2023. The “Iron Wall” offensive, launched in January 2025, has focused heavily on Jenin and surrounding towns, involving large‑scale invasions, demolitions, killings and assassinations. Palestinian organizations stress that Israel’s accusations are often used to justify extrajudicial killings without due process. Since the beginning of this year, 236 Palestinians killed in the West Bank in 2025, among them 13 killed by colonizers. Also among the slain Palestinians are 46 children and 7 women.

Name of the martyr:

Sultan Nidal Abdul‑Aziz, 22