Israeli forces within the occupied West Financial institution have tied a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a navy car throughout a raid on the town of Jenin, showing to make use of him as a human protect.
A video posted on-line on Saturday, and verified by Al Jazeera, confirmed Mujahed Azmi, a Palestinian resident of Jenin, strapped to a navy jeep that passes by two ambulances.
The household of Azmi instructed the Reuters information company that Israeli forces carried out an arrest raid in Jenin, throughout which he was wounded.
When the household requested for an ambulance, the navy took Azmi, strapped him onto the hood of their jeep and drove off.
Abdulraouf Mustafa, a Palestinian ambulance driver, mentioned the Israeli troopers refused at hand over Azmi to them.
“The jeep handed by and the wounded man was on the hood,” Mustafa instructed Al Jazeera. “One arm was tied to the windshield and the arm was on his stomach. They drove previous us. They refused to present us the affected person.”
The Israeli navy in an announcement mentioned Israeli forces have been fired at and exchanged hearth, wounding a suspect and apprehending him.
Troopers then violated navy protocol, the assertion mentioned. “The suspect was taken by the forces whereas tied on prime of a car,” it mentioned.
The navy mentioned the “conduct of the forces within the video of the incident doesn’t conform to the values” of the Israeli navy and that the incident shall be investigated and handled.
Israeli troopers later launched Azmi, permitting paramedics to move him to hospital the place he was taken to the working room, in line with the well being staff.
The incident got here as violence within the occupied West Financial institution, which was already on the rise earlier than Israel’s warfare on Gaza, continues to escalate. These embody frequent Israeli navy raids in West Financial institution cities and villages, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages, in addition to assaults by Palestinians.
The obvious human protect incident spurred widespread outrage.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ particular rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory, known as it “human shielding in motion”.
“It’s flabbergasting how a state born 76 years in the past has managed to show worldwide regulation actually on its head,” she wrote in a publish on X. “This dangers being the tip of multilateralism, which for some influential member states not serves any related function.”
#HumanShielding in motion.
It’s flabbergasting how a state born 76 years in the past has managed to show worldwide regulation actually on its head.This dangers being the tip of multilateralism, which for some influential member states not serves any related function.… https://t.co/swwjiuJYmG
— Francesca Albanese, UN Particular Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 22, 2024
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US’ largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, additionally condemned the incident, together with Israel’s killing of some 43 folks in assaults on the Shati refugee camp and the Tuffah neighbourhood in northern Gaza.
“These Israeli-US massacres and warfare crimes have to be stopped. American taxpayer {dollars} shouldn’t be used to kill, maim and starve harmless civilians,” mentioned Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s nationwide communications director. “The Biden administration should finish its complicity on this genocide and start to recognise the humanity of the Palestinian folks.”
David Des Roches, a professor on the Nationwide Protection College within the US, in the meantime mentioned if the Israeli navy fails to self-discipline the troopers concerned within the incident, then others might see their actions as a licence to do the identical factor.
“It’s not normal observe. I hope that the investigation will discover out who did this, and I hope there shall be exemplary punishment doled out. In any other case, you may make the honest case that that is evolving into coverage,” Des Roches instructed Al Jazeera.
“The response of the Israeli navy to that is going to be very telling, and, once more, if the troopers who did this usually are not disciplined appropriately, you may make the argument that this shall be seen as a licence for different folks to do that,” he added. “However on the finish of the day, it’s exhausting to see that there’s any tactical benefit to this, and Israel has suffered grave strategic harm from it.”
The incident was not the first time the Israeli navy has been compelled to deal with troop misconduct.
In Might of final yr, Palestinian rights teams accused Israeli troops of utilizing 5 kids as human shields, together with throughout a raid close to Jericho within the occupied West Financial institution.
That very same month, the Israeli navy opened an investigation after a video emerged of a soldier burning what gave the impression to be a Quran.
The bombing of the Crimson Crescent headquarters in southern Gaza in January this yr can be underneath investigation. 5 folks have been killed within the assault on the location sheltering some 1,400 folks.
Additionally in January, Israeli troopers in Gaza blew up the principle constructing of a college at first of the yr, after utilizing it as a navy base for a number of weeks. The navy mentioned its troops didn’t get permission to destroy the constructing.
The next month, Israel’s prime navy lawyer warned troops about violations, saying the troopers’ actions would finally trigger strategic harm to the nation.
