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IDF confirms ‘review’ after Israeli soldiers filmed pushing ‘lifeless bodies from roofs’ in West Bank raid
Israeli soldiers pushed three apparently lifeless bodies from rooftops during a raid in the occupied West Bank, according to an Associated Press (AP) journalist at the scene.
Footage obtained by AP shows the soldiers on rooftops in the town of Qabatiya, in the West Bank.
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A reporter for the news agency also said they witnessed the incident. In the footage – verified by AP – three Israeli soldiers can be seen picking up what appears to be a stiff body and then dragging it toward the edge of a roof.
Troops are seen standing on the ground below. Soldiers on the roof then peer over the edge before heaving the body off.
On an adjacent rooftop, the soldiers hold another apparently lifeless body by its limbs and swing it over the edge.
In a third instance, a soldier kicks a body toward the edge before it falls from view.
In a statement, the Israeli military said the incident is “under review,” and added: “This is a serious incident that does not coincide with IDF values and the expectations from IDF soldiers.”
Israel said its troops had killed four militants during operations yesterday, while the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said one person had been killed in the town and 10 were in hospital.
Photos captured by AP during Thursday’s raid show an Israeli army bulldozer moving 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 were not immediately known.
The AP reporter who witnessed the raid added they saw a blindfolded and shirtless Palestinian man kneeling before an Israeli army jeep and armed soldiers.
Smoke is also seen billowing from several buildings.
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Under international law, soldiers are supposed to ensure dead bodies, including those of enemy combatants, are treated decently.
Rights groups say the Israeli military rarely prosecutes soldiers in cases of reported harm to Palestinians.
More than 700 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel says the raids are necessary to stamp out militancy. In that time, Palestinian gunmen have attacked Israelis at checkpoints and staged attacks within Israel.