Israel’s military has launched an investigation after its soldiers were filmed throwing the bodies of three dead Palestinians off a rooftop during a raid in the occupied West Bank.
Footage of the incident, filmed in the northern town of Qabatiya, near Jenin, then appears to show an Israeli military bulldozer picking up and removing the bodies.
The images have sparked widespread outrage. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it was “a serious incident” that did not “conform” to its values and what was expected of its forces.
Local Palestinian officials say at least seven people were killed by Israeli forces in Qabatiya on Thursday.
Under international law, soldiers are obliged to ensure that bodies, including those of enemy fighters, are treated with respect.
The IDF said it carried out a counterterrorism operation in Qabatiya, during which four militants were killed in an “exchange of fire” and three others were killed after a drone strike on a car.
A journalist in Qabatiya told the BBC that on Thursday morning Israeli troops had surrounded a building in town.
He described how four men who were in the house then escaped to the roof and were shot by snipers.
Fighting continued in the town and when it had subsided, he then said he saw Israeli troops go up to the roof and drop the bodies down over the side, where they were then loaded onto a bulldozer.
Asked about the incident shown in the footage, the IDF said: “This is a serious incident that does not conform with [our] values and the expectations from IDF soldiers. The incident is under review.”
The military said that one of those killed in Qabatiya was Shadi Zakarneh, who it identified as being “responsible for directing and carrying out attacks in the northern West Bank area”.
It said he was “the head of the terrorist organisation” in Qabatiya but did not specify which group he belonged to.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in the West Bank, described the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, as a “crime” which exposed the “brutality” of the Israeli army.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby described the footage as “deeply disturbing”.
“If it’s proven to be authentic, it clearly would depict abhorrent and egregious behaviour by professional soldiers,” he told reporters.
There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.
More than 690 Palestinians have been killed there since then, the Palestinian health ministry says, as Israeli forces have intensified their nearly daily search and arrest raids.
Israel says it is trying to stem Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Israel, in which at least 33 Israelis have been killed.
In Gaza, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli military action, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.