“They stepped on my head, […] they were laughing”: Israeli soldiers tie injured Palestinian to military vehicle

Palestinians walk through a market in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on June 20, 2024. Mahmoud Zaki – XinHua/MAXPPP

Israeli soldiers tied a wounded Palestinian to the hood of a military vehicle during an Israeli army operation in Jenin, West Bank, according to army statements on Sunday 23rd. ;nbsp;June 2024, admitting that the soldiers had broken army rules.

Images of this scene which occurred on Saturday June 22, 2024 have gone viral and show a man, visibly injured, tied across the hood of a jeep passing on a relatively narrow street.

According to medical sources, this is Moujahid Raed Abbadi, 24 years old, a young man from the Jenin refugee camp but who was with relatives in Jabriyat, between Burqin and Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank.

"Attached to vehicle"

"During counter-terrorism operations to apprehend wanted suspects in Wadi Burqin area, terrorists opened fire on troops&quot ;, the army said.

During this exchange of fire between the soldiers and armed individuals, the Israeli army explains that “one of the suspects was injured and apprehended”.

He was “tied” to the vehicle as part of his arrest, the army claims, specifying that this arrest was made “in violation of orders and standard operating procedures”.

“They hit me in the face"

"The behavior of the troops in the video […] is not in line with the values" of the Israeli army, it added in the same statement, specifying that an investigation will be conducted.

According to the army, the man tied to the vehicle was later transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent to receive necessary medical care.

"They were laughing"

Mr Abbadi explained that he was injured by gunfire and remained unable to move for more than two hours behind an Israeli military vehicle.

"When they (soldiers, editor's note) came up to me, they stepped on my head, hit me in the face , in the legs or on my hands, which had been injured, they were laughing", he says.

He specified that these soldiers had "raised", &amp ;quot;thrown to the ground", then "thrown onto the hood of a jeep" which was then hot according to him.

Doctors at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin confirmed that Moujahid Raed Abbadi was being treated at the facility.

“Emergency surgery”

Mr. Abbadi “has a fracture" and “injuries", he was “emergency surgery" and will have to be operated on again, according to Bahaa Abou Hammad, a surgeon at the hospital.

“He has a burn at the back, from the neck to the lower back", he added.

The city of Jenin and the surrounding refugee camps have been the scene of confrontations between the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups for years.

At least 553 Palestinians killed

The level of violence in the West Bank, which was already high before the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7 after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil, has only increased intensified since then.

According to Palestinian authorities, in the territory under occupation for nearly 60 years, at least 553 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the war in Gaza began.

Palestinian attacks have killed at least 14 Israelis in the West Bank during the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.