Israeli troops were caught on camera pushing bodies off a roof during a raid in the West Bank
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it is investigating troops for throwing the bodies of dead Palestinians from a rooftop during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Qabatiya.
Videos shot from different angles by witnesses to Thursday's raid, including AP and Al-Araby journalists, show three soldiers on the roof of a multi-story building pushing apparently lifeless bodies over the edge of the building.
“This is a serious incident that is not in line with the values of the IDF and what is expected of IDF soldiers,” The Israeli army announced this on Friday.
The footage shows soldiers dragging a body to the edge of the roof and then throwing it to the ground. As they approach a second body, the soldiers grab it by the limbs and force it over the edge. On a third occasion, a soldier kicks a body off the side of the building. All three Palestinians are believed to have died during the Israeli incursion.
Press coverage: A new brutal scene… occupation soldiers throw away the bodies of the young men who rose from the roof of the besieged house in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin. image.twitter.com/vlQ6kFUKUK
– Quds News Network (@qudsn) September 19, 2024
Photos taken at the scene show an Israeli army bulldozer moving near the buildings where the bodies were dumped.
“An excavator tried to demolish the house to remove the bodies, but it didn't work.” Al-Arabi journalist Ameed Shehadeh, who witnessed the incident, told CNN.
“The soldiers climbed up and kicked and pushed the bodies from the roof, as we have seen. They kicked, pushed and threw three different bodies from one roof, and a fourth body was thrown from the adjacent roof a few metres below.”
According to the IDF, Israeli troops killed four gunmen during the latest operation in Qabatiya, in the northern part of the West Bank.
International law requires the military to treat dead bodies, including those of enemy combatants, with respect and return them to their families.
Israel launched a large-scale attack “anti-terrorist operation” against Palestinians in the West Bank in response to an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last month. More than 700 Palestinians in the area have been killed by Israeli forces since last October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
