Israeli forces' armored vehicles move through the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, during a raid on July 1, 2024. (Credit: Zain Jaafar/AFP)
Two Palestinian men told the BBC that Israeli soldiers forced them, injured and semi-naked, onto the hood of an army jeep and drove along roads at high speeds in the occupied West Bank.
Their accounts came days after footage of 23-year-old Mujahid Abadi, also forced onto the hood of what appears to be the same Israeli army jeep, caused international outcry.
25-year-old Samir Dabaya said he was shot in the back by Israeli forces during last week’s operation in Jabariyat and laid facedown bleeding for hours. When the soldiers realized he was still alive, they beat him with a gun, picked him up and threw him onto the hood of the Israeli army vehicle.
“They took off my [pants]. I wanted to hold onto the car, but [one soldier] hit my face and told me not to. Then he started driving,” he told the BBC. “I was waiting for death.”
Dabaya showed the BBC video footage from a security camera which shows him semi-naked, tied to a fast-moving jeep with the number “1” marked on its side.
Hisham Isleit also told the BBC that he was shot twice during the Jabariyat operation and forced onto the same military jeep, marked with the number 1.
Isleit reported that the Israeli soldiers ordered him and another man to stand up and undress them before asking them to get onto the front of the jeep. When he resisted, telling them the hood was extremely hot, they threatened to kill him.
The Israeli army told the BBC that the cases are under review, and described the first case with Abadi as, “a violation of orders and procedures.”
A video posted online of Abadi’s assault was verified by Al Jazeera.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, described the event as “human shielding in action,” in a post made on X.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of deliberately shielding its operations behind Palestinian civilians. Hamas has denied these allegations.
Under international law, the use of protected persons such as civilians, the wounded and sick, prisoners of war and medical personnel as a way to render military targets immune from military operations is classified as a war crime when committed during an international armed conflict.
The use of human shields is specifically forbidden by Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions and is considered a violation of humanitarian law.
However, a 2005 ruling by the Israel Supreme Court applied the concept of “free will” to human shields, greatly weakening the protection of civilians. The ruling determined that civilians who support terrorist organizations “should be seen as persons taking a direct part in the hostilities,” thus stripping them of protections under international law.
The spokesperson for the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, said that since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers and settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has reached record levels.
At least 553 Palestinians, including 137 children, have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities. Thousands of others in the territory have been detained.
