Jerusalem (CNN) – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) investigate soldiers for throwing bodies from a rooftop in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday, amid a raid military in the area that left seven dead, according to Palestinian authorities. Before the incident, intense clashes and shootouts with combatants were reported.
The event was filmed from various angles by residents of Qabatya, near Jenin, and witnessed by an Associated Press (AP) reporter. CNN cannot confirm whether the men whose bodies were thrown from the building were dead, although their bodies appear motionless and lifeless.
The longest video shows three Israeli soldiers standing on a rooftop. They can be seen pushing a body over the edge of the building. The body’s feet get stuck in what appear to be electrical or telephone wires, and it hangs over the edge, upside down. One of the soldiers then bends down to unclip the person’s feet, and the body falls to the ground.
Approaching a second body on the roof, one soldier lifts the person’s hands and another lifts the person’s feet. They swing the body from side to side and then throw it over the edge.
Finally, a soldier uses his feet to kick a third body over the edge of the building.
“This is a serious incident that does not match the IDF values and the expectations of IDF soldiers,” military authorities said in a statement to CNN. “The incident is under review.”
Armies are bound by international law to treat the bodies of enemy soldiers with respect, prevent them from being mutilated, and return their bodies to their families. The Israeli military often confiscates the bodies of fighters killed in combat.
Jenin Governor Kamal Abu Al-Roub told CNN that the Israeli Army took four bodies from Qabatya. He added that the funeral of three others killed in the raid would be held this Friday.
Al-Arabi correspondent Ameed Shehadeh also witnessed the incident.
“An excavator tried to demolish the house to remove the bodies. That didn’t work,” she told CNN. “The soldiers climbed up and kicked and pushed the bodies from the roof, as we have seen. Three different bodies were kicked, pushed and thrown from a roof, and a fourth body was thrown from the adjacent roof a few meters below.”
Earlier, the IDF said it was carrying out an “anti-terrorist” operation in the area, and that soldiers shot and killed four fighters. “The soldiers exchanged fire with terrorists, eliminating four. No IDF injuries were reported,” he said. CNN cannot confirm whether the people seen in the video are those mentioned by the IDF.
The IDF later said that together with the Israel Security Agency, its forces had killed “the head of the terrorist organization in Qabatiya and six other terrorists.”
The IDF did not name the group they were attacking, but said several armed terrorists were identified when they fired on forces operating in the area. “The terrorists’ vehicle had weapons and explosives that caused a secondary explosion,” he added.
Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti described the treatment of the bodies as “a barbaric act that shows the degree of degradation and brutality of the occupation Army’s behavior.”
Video filmed earlier in the day showed a Palestinian militant with a rifle running across rooftops, with loud gunshots echoing off the concrete walls. Another video showed an Israeli soldier on the roof, shooting at the body of a man. One photo shows three bodies on the roof.
Later that same day, an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the city, according to several videos from the scene. The IDF said in a statement that it was attacking “armed terrorists operating inside a vehicle.”
Clashes between militants and Israeli security forces continue in Qabatya with intense gunfire heard in the city after sunset on Thursday.
The Israelis have used increasingly militarized tactics in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. Around 700 people have died in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, including more than 150 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Thursday it had treated eight people injured by live ammunition, two of whom were in critical condition.
Lauren Izso and Tim Lister contributed to this report.
