Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank tied a wounded Palestinian to the hood of a military vehicle during an attack on the city of Jenin, apparently using him as a human shield.
A video posted online on Saturday and verified by Al Jazeera showed Mujahed Azmi, a Palestinian resident of Jenin, tied to a military jeep passing by two ambulances.
Azmi's family told Reuters news agency that Israeli forces carried out an arrest raid in Jenin, during which he was injured.
When the family called for an ambulance, the soldiers took Azmi away, tied him to the hood of their jeep and drove away.
Abdulraouf Mustafa, a Palestinian ambulance driver, said Israeli soldiers refused to hand Azmi over to them.
“The jeep passed by and the injured man was on the hood,” Mustafa told Al Jazeera. “One arm was tied to the windshield and the arm was tied to his abdomen. They passed by us. “They refused to give us the patient.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that Israeli forces came under fire and exchanged fire, wounding one suspect and detaining him.
The soldiers then violated military protocol, according to the statement. “The suspect was detained by forces while he was tied on the roof of a vehicle,” he said.
The army said that “the conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values” of the Israeli army and that the incident will be investigated and addressed.
Israeli soldiers later freed Azmi, allowing paramedics to transport him to the hospital, where he was taken to the operating room, according to health workers.
The incident came as violence continues to rise in the occupied West Bank, which was already on the rise before Israel's war on Gaza. These include frequent Israeli military raids on West Bank cities and towns, attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages, as well as attacks by Palestinians.
The apparent incident with the human shield sparked widespread outrage.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, called it “human protection in action.”
“It is surprising how a State born 76 years ago has managed to literally turn international law upside down,” he wrote in a post on nothing. relevant purpose.”
#HumanShield in action.
It is surprising how a State born 76 years ago has managed to literally turn international law upside down.This risks being the end of multilateralism, which for some influential Member States no longer serves any relevant purpose…
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for Occupied Territories (@FranceskAlbs) June 22, 2024
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, also condemned the incident, along with Israel's killing of some 43 people in attacks on the Shati refugee camp. and the Tuffah neighborhood in northern Gaza. .
“These Israeli-American massacres and war crimes must stop. American taxpayer money should not be used to kill, maim and starve innocent civilians,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for CAIR. “The Biden administration must end its complicity in this genocide and begin to recognize the humanity of the Palestinian people.”
Meanwhile, David Des Roches, a professor at the US National Defense University, said that if the Israeli military does not discipline the soldiers involved in the incident, others could see its actions as a license to do the same.
“It is not standard practice. I hope that the investigation finds out who did this and I hope that an exemplary punishment is applied. Otherwise, it can be fairly argued that this is becoming a policy,” Des Roches told Al Jazeera.
“The reaction of the Israeli army to this is going to be very telling and, again, if the soldiers who did this are not disciplined appropriately, it can be argued that this will be seen as a license for other people to do this. ”He added. “But at the end of the day, it's hard to see this having any tactical advantage, and Israel has suffered serious strategic damage from it.”
The incident was not the first time the Israeli military was forced to address troop misconduct.
In May last year, Palestinian rights groups accused Israeli troops of using five children as human shields, including during a raid near Jericho in the occupied West Bank.
That same month, the Israeli military opened an investigation after a video emerged of a soldier burning what appeared to be a Koran.
The bombing of the Red Crescent headquarters in southern Gaza in January this year is also being investigated. Five people died in the attack on the site that housed about 1,400 people.
Also in January, Israeli soldiers in Gaza blew up the main building of a university earlier in the year, after using it as a military base for several weeks. The military said its troops did not get permission to destroy the building.
The following month, Israel's top military lawyer warned troops about violations, saying the soldiers' actions would ultimately cause strategic damage to the nation.
