MENA
The United Nations has urged for a transparent probe into video footage that surfaced this week showing Israeli soldiers throwing dead Palestinians from a rooftop in the West Bank town of Qabatiya following a raid.
The offensive on the town resulted in Israeli forces killing at least seven Palestinians, with the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reporting that the disturbing footage showed at least three of those killed being thrown from the top of the building.
On Friday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the footage as “grotesque” and “inhumane”, urging for a “transparent” investigation into it.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby called the show of brutality “deeply disturbing”, adding that the US is waiting for the results of an Israeli army investigation into the incident.
Kirby added that the video constitutes “an egregious behaviour by professional soldiers” if verified.
Several rights organisations have confirmed the validity of the video, including the Euro-Med Monitor.
An AP journalist present on the ground also confirmed they saw three Israeli soldiers pushing the bodies from the top of an adjacent multi-story building in Qabatiya, sending the apparently lifeless bodies falling several storeys to the ground.
It happened following a 10-hour offensive on the town, where Israeli forces in armoured jeeps reportedly mowed down pedestrians and caused damage to infrastructure.
Israeli forces had earlier besieged several homes and shot Palestinians dead, reports stated.
“We reached out immediately to our Israeli counterparts about it, and we pressed them for more details. They have assured us that they’re going to investigate this and that there will be proper accountability if it’s warranted,” Kirby said.
“We’re going to be very eager to see what the IDF investigation finds. As always, we expect that an investigation will be conducted thoroughly and transparently,” he continued.
Following the incident, which caused global outrage, the Israeli army said it was a “serious incident that is not in line with IDF values and what is expected of IDF soldiers”.
The former executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, slammed the harrowing footage.
“Under international humanitarian law, soldiers are supposed to ensure the bodies of enemy combatants are treated decently. Yet Israeli soldiers threw the bodies of three Palestinian men from a roof” he wrote on X, adding there was no military need to carry out such actions.
Hamas also issued a response to the footage, denouncing the act as “barbarity”.
Since the launch of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, Israel has frequently raided and violently attacked West Bank towns, killing Palestinians and carrying out mass arrests.
According to the UN, 622 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October and August, including 126 killed in air strikes, and 11 killed by extremist Israeli settlers.
