Israeli army investigates soldiers throwing bodies from West Bank rooftop

Jerusalem
CNN
—

The Israeli military is investigating after soldiers threw bodies from a rooftop in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday, amid an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) incursion into the area that left seven dead, according to the Palestinian government, and saw intense clashes and gunfire with militants.

The incident was filmed from several angles by residents of Qabatya, near Jenin, and an Associated Press (AP) journalist witnessed the incident. CNN cannot confirm whether the men whose bodies were thrown from the top of the building were dead, although their bodies were motionless and appeared lifeless.

The longer video shows three Israeli soldiers standing on a roof. They are seen pushing a body over the edge of the building. The body’s feet get caught in what appear to be electrical or telephone cables, and the body swings over the edge, head first. One of the soldiers then leans down to dislodge the person’s feet, and the body falls to the ground.

Approaching a second body on the roof, one soldier grabs the person’s hands and another his feet. They swing the body back and forth, then throw it overboard.

Finally, a soldier uses his feet to propel a third body over the side of the building.

“This is a serious incident that does not correspond to the values ​​of the IDF and the expectations of IDF soldiers,” the army said in a statement to CNN. “The incident is being examined.”

International law requires the military to treat the bodies of enemy soldiers with respect, prevent their mutilation, and return them to the deceased’s family. The Israeli military often confiscates the bodies of militants killed in combat.

Jenin Governor Kamal Abu Al-Roub told CNN that the Israeli military had recovered four bodies in Qabatya. He added that funerals for the other three people killed in the raid would be held on Friday.

Al-Arabi correspondent Ameed Shehadeh also witnessed the incident.

“A bulldozer tried to demolish the house to get the bodies down. It didn’t work,” he told CNN. “The soldiers went up on the roof and kicked and pushed the bodies off the roof, as we saw. They kicked, pushed and threw three different bodies off a roof, and a fourth body was thrown from an adjacent roof a few meters below.”

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it was conducting a “counter-terrorism” operation in the area and that soldiers had killed four militants. “The soldiers exchanged fire with the terrorists, killing four. No injuries were reported on the Israeli military side,” it added. CNN cannot confirm whether the people seen in the video are those mentioned by the Israeli military.

The Israeli military later said that with the help of the Israel Security Agency, its forces had killed “the leader of the terrorist organization in Qabatiya and six other terrorists.”

The Israeli army did not specify the group targeted but said several armed terrorists had been identified last night and had fired on forces operating in the area. “The terrorists’ vehicle contained weapons and explosives that caused a second explosion,” it added.

Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti called the treatment of the bodies “a barbaric act that shows the extent of the degradation and brutality of the occupation army’s behavior.”

A video shot earlier in the day shows a Palestinian militant armed with a rifle charging across rooftops, gunshots echoing off the concrete walls. Another video shows an Israeli soldier on the roof, shooting at the body of a man lying on the ground. A photo shows three bodies on the roof.

Later in the day, an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the city, according to multiple videos from the scene. The Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted “armed terrorists operating in a vehicle.”

Clashes between militants and Israeli security forces continued in Qabatya, with heavy gunfire heard in the town well after sunset on Thursday.

The Israeli military has resorted to increasingly militarized tactics in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. Since October 7, about 700 people have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including more than 150 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society announced on Thursday that it had treated eight people injured by live ammunition, two of them in critical condition.

Lauren Izso and Tim Lister contributed to this report.