Israel executes prominent ‘father of martyrs’ Fathi Khazem in his home in Jenin
Fathi Khazem flanked by Jenin resistance fighters while speaking at a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Jihad movement, Jenin, 6 October 2022
Shatha Hanaysha reports in Mondoweiss on 21 August 2026:
Israeli forces killed a prominent Palestinian father of two martyred resistance fighters early on Friday morning. Fathi Khazem, 58, also known as Abu Raad, was at home with his 12-year-old son, Adam, when Israeli soldiers raided his home in the al-Masarwa neighborhood of Jenin in the northern West Bank. The soldiers had forcibly recruited a young man from the neighborhood to accompany them as a human shield, after which they blew open the front door and stormed inside.
According to the family, Adam witnessed what they described as the execution of his father by Israeli forces, and has remained in a state of shock ever since.
Speaking to Mondoweiss, the 12-year-old recounted how they ordered his father, Fathi, to raise his hands, remove his clothes, and kneel before them. Adam said that his father refused to comply with their orders or submit to their attempts to humiliate him, asking, “Who are you that I should kneel before you?”
According to Adam and the young man who was used as a human shield, a verbal confrontation broke out between Khazem and the soldiers. Other family members told Mondoweiss that what followed was a summary execution, saying that after the soldiers began beating Khazem inside his home, he tried to defend himself before they shot him at point-blank range.