September 20th 2024.
On Thursday, during a raid in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were seen pushing three lifeless bodies off the rooftops. An Associated Press journalist who was present at the scene and obtained video footage of the incident reported this. The journalist, who was in the town of Qabatiya, witnessed the soldiers pushing the bodies off the roofs of two adjacent multi-story buildings, causing them to fall out of sight.
This is not the first time that Israeli forces have been accused of using excessive force towards Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas war began. Human rights groups have raised concerns about the pattern of violations by Israeli forces. The incident was described as "serious" by the military in a statement, as it goes against their values and expectations from their soldiers. They have stated that the incident is under review.
Israel claims that their troops killed four militants during the operations in Qabatiya on Thursday. However, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah did not immediately confirm multiple deaths, but reported that one person was killed and ten others were injured by Israeli gunfire in the town. In the video obtained by AP, three soldiers can be seen picking up a body and dragging it to the edge of the roof, while other soldiers stand below. They then push the body off the roof. Similar actions were witnessed on the adjacent rooftop, where the soldiers swung another body over the edge. In a third instance, a soldier can be seen kicking a body towards the edge before it falls out of view.
Photos captured by AP during the raid show an Israeli army bulldozer near the buildings where the bodies were dropped. Other journalists at the scene also witnessed the bodies being pushed off the roofs. The identities of the dead and the cause of their deaths have not been confirmed yet. Usually, when the army withdraws from raids, they leave behind any Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire. However, in some cases, the army has been known to bring dead bodies into Israel.
According to international law, soldiers are required to treat dead bodies, including those of enemy combatants, with dignity. Shawan Jabarin, the director of Palestinian right group Al-Haq, expressed his shock and disgust after watching the footage, calling it a "savage" way of treating Palestinian bodies. He also doubted that Israel would properly investigate the incident, as the Israeli military rarely prosecutes soldiers in cases involving harm to Palestinians.
The AP reporter who witnessed the raid also reported seeing a blindfolded and shirtless Palestinian man kneeling in front of an Israeli army jeep, surrounded by armed soldiers. Smoke could be seen coming from several damaged buildings in the area. While the world's attention is focused on the war in Gaza, the violence in the West Bank has not stopped. Scores of Palestinians have been killed, shot, and arrested by the Israeli military in the past few months. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, over 700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the war began on October 7. The northern West Bank has been particularly affected by the violence.
Israel claims that these raids are necessary to combat militancy, which has escalated since the start of the war. Palestinian gunmen have been attacking Israelis at checkpoints and within Israel. In a previous raid earlier this month, Israel killed at least 33 people in the northern West Bank, making it the deadliest raid since the war began.
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