IDF troops 'violated orders' by tying wounded Palestinian to a jeep bonnet during raid, Israeli army admits - as probe is launched after video sparked fury
IDF troops 'violated orders' by tying a wounded Palestinian to a jeep bonnet during a raid the Israeli army has admitted.
Horror footage of the incident, which occurred on Saturday, has gone viral and sparked widespread disgust.
The video shows a bloody and wounded man strapped horizontally to the bonnet of a military jeep as it speeds through a narrow alley, passing ambulances.
Following the publication of the shocking video, the military confirmed that the behaviour of the soldiers will be investigated and 'dealt with accordingly'.
Medics identified the Palestinian as Mujahid Raed Abbadi, 24, who lives in the Jenin refugee camp.
The IDF jeep speeding down a narrow street while Mujahid Raed Abbadi, 24, who lives in the Jenin refugee camp was strapped to the bonnet
The Palestinian man suffered burns on his back from being strapped to the burning hot bonnet and was covered in blood. He was later treated at hospital
Since the disgusting video, the Israeli military confirmed that the behaviour of the soldiers will be investigated and 'dealt with accordingly'
The Israeli military said Abbadi was wounded during a 'counterterrorism operation' to arrest wanted suspects in the area of Wadi Burqin, between the town of Burqin and Jenin.
The video was taken after an exchange of fire between troops and militants in Burqin's Jabriyat neighbourhood.
In a statement from the IDF, Abbadi was referred to him as a 'suspect', but the army did not specify any accusations against him.
Medics have since confirmed he was being treated at Jenin's Ibn Sina hospital, and not in Israeli custody.
The military statement said: 'In violation of orders and standard operating procedures, the suspect was taken by the forces while tied on top of a vehicle.'
He was later transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent for treatment, it said.
'The conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values of the IDF (military),' the statement said.
'The incident will be investigated and dealt with accordingly.'
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, suggested the troops were using Abbadi to shield themselves from gunfire.
'#HumanShielding in action', Albanese wrote on social media platform X, sharing footage of the incident.
At the hospital, Abbadi said he was hit and wounded as he stepped out of his uncle's house in Jabriyat.
'I tried to withdraw and get inside the house, but they started shooting', hitting him in the hand, Abbadi told AFP in his hospital bed.
He said he fell to the ground in an area behind the military jeep and was hit once more, with a bullet hitting his leg.
According to Abbadi, he lay on the ground in agony for more than two hours as neither rescuers or medics were unable to reach him.
'I started crawling' trying to escape as fighting continued around him, he said, before the Israeli troops noticed him.
'When they (the soldiers) arrived they stomped on my head and hit my face, my injured leg and hand,' Abbadi recalled.
People make their way through the rubble of at al-Shati refugee camp. Israel's military offensive on Gaza has since killed at least 37,598 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry
'They were laughing and playing while they hit me.'
The soldiers lifted him and threw him on the ground before tying him to the bonnet of the jeep, he said.
Bahaa Abu Hammad, the doctor treating Abbadi at Ibn Sina hospital, said Abbadi has burns on his back from neck to lower back from being tied to the military jeep in the scorching summer heat.
Speaking to Mondoweiss, a 13-year-old who witnessed an Israeli military operation carried out by special forces on Saturday in Jenin said: 'When I saw the occupation soldiers shooting inside the room, I put my head under the blanket and hid'.
Another alleged eyewitness told the publication: 'They (Hamas militants) appeared to be toying with him for amusement'.
Jenin has long been a stronghold for Palestinian militant groups, and the Israeli army routinely carries out raids in the city and an adjacent refugee camp.
There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
Hamas' unprecedented attack on a southern Israel music festival resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
During their attack, militants also seized around 251 hostages. Israel estimates 128 of them remain in Gaza including 36 who the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,971 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The shocking footage of the injured Palestinian man tied to the vehicles hood comes after Israel conducted airstrikes in Gaza City on Saturday that left mote than three dozen people dead, according to local officials.
The Washington Post reported that the strikes caused 'significant damage and a massive crater... in the densely built al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City'.
Israel claimed it was targeting a pair of 'Hamas military sites' but it was not immediately made clear how many of the casualties were civilians.
Another 18 Palestinians were killed in a strike on houses in the city's Al Tuffah neighbourhood, the director of the Hamas-run government media office, Ismail Al Thawabta told Reuters.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement on Saturday that the IDF fighter jets 'struck two Hamas military infrastructure sites in the are of Gaza City,' while adding it would release more details later.
Hamas did not comment on whether its military infrastructure had been hit, as per the Israeli claim.
Hamas said the attacks targeted the civilian population. The group vowed in a statement: 'The occupation and its Nazi leaders will pay the price for their violations against our people.'
Israel's military offensive on Gaza has since killed at least 37,598 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
