On Tuesday, 8 February 2022, at 1:15 P.M., two vehicles with Palestinian license plates – a shared taxi and a commercial van – blocked off a SEAT car in the heart of the city of Nablus. Three operatives with the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade were riding in the car – Ashraf Mbaslat (21), Muhammad Dakhil (21) and Adham Mabroukeh (26), all residents of Nablus. The shared taxi blocked the car off in front and a few seconds later, the commercial van blocked it from behind, to the left. Seconds later, several Israeli Special Police Unit officers got out of the van and opened massive fire at the car.
The three operatives were killed instantly, and the police were quick to leave. Documentation of the car after the incident indicates that dozens of bullets hit the front and left sides.
Video footage, testimonies collected by B'Tselem and a statement by the Israel Police indicate that some of the car's passengers were armed, yet none of them fired at the officers before they were shot to death. Shooting them seconds after the vehicles stopped was not part of an arrest operation, but an extrajudicial killing.
In recent years, B'Tselem has documented two similar incidents: the extrajudicial killings of Ahmad ‘Abdu in Um a-Sharayet on 25 May 2021 and of Saleh Barghouti in the village of Surda on 12 December 2018. The extrajudicial killing of Mbaslat, Dakhil and Mabroukeh, in the heart of the city and in broad daylight, is yet another manifestation of this unlawful policy.
Video: ISF undercover unit personnel assassinated three Palestinian members of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus City last week; Approximately 80 bullets were fired from short range pic.twitter.com/tlfwQRV8gp
— Local Focus - Security Alerts (@LocalFocus1) February 14, 2022
In a testimony he gave B'Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb'i, A.S. recounted:
On Tuesday, 8 February 2022, at around midday, I was sitting at home when I heard something that sounded like fireworks. I quickly went out to the western balcony. I saw a soldier shooting at a silver-colored private car. There was a dark green vehicle near the car, blocking it partially from behind. I noticed another orange vehicle standing in front of the silver car, but I could only see its front end. The doors of the silver vehicle were closed, and I didn't see who was in it. I saw a soldier go over to it, smash the rear and left windows with his rifle butt and take something black out of it. I think it was a weapon. Then a soldier with a black mask showed up. His uniform was different from the uniforms of the other soldiers. He inspected the interior of the vehicle. When he was done, the soldiers got into the van and drove off.
I ran outside. From the gate of the building, I saw the commercial van and the orange vehicle, a shared taxi that also had soldiers in it, driving south. I didn't pay them any attention and went over to the shot-up vehicle, which was a few dozen meters away from my house. I saw three young men inside it: one in the driver's seat, the other in the passenger's seat on the right, and another in the back seat. They were in a pitiful state. They had taken dozens of bullets to their bodies. It was hard to make out the facial features of the guy in the back seat. I called an ambulance, and it came and took the three men away.
In a testimony she gave on 8 February 2022, F.‘A. told B'Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb'i what she saw:
On Tuesday, 8 February 2022, at 1:15 P.M., I was sitting in the living room watching TV when I heard a massive volley of shots. I went outside quickly. Across the street from me, I saw a private silver vehicle with Palestinian license plates. There were several soldiers to the left of it, I don't remember how many, firing at it continuously. I went back, because I was afraid of being hit and didn’t want the soldiers to see me. I hid behind the wall of the house and followed what was happening from there.
When the shooting stopped, one of the soldiers smashed part of the vehicle's rear and left side windows. Then a soldier who was wearing a different uniform from the others arrived, looked inside the vehicle and inspected it. Then the soldiers got into the commercial van that was parked on the left, and they and the soldiers in the shared taxi turned around and headed back towards the al-Makhfiyeh neighborhood. From there, they drove towards the city exit.
