WEST BANK – Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians in a raid on the occupied West Bank town of Qabatiya, with video footage showing soldiers pushing what appeared to be dead bodies off a rooftop.

The military stormed Qabatiya on Thursday, backed by bulldozers, fighter jets and drones in an hours-long assault, with Palestinian news agency Wafa confirming on Friday that seven people had been killed. Video footage verified by Al Jazeera showed soldiers pushing apparently lifeless individuals off the rooftop of a building that they had earlier surrounded and attacked with antitank rifle grenades, one soldier clearly seen kicking one of the bodies until it fell over the edge.

In a post on X, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the act as a “crime” that exposes the Israeli army’s “brutality”.  Wafa reported on Friday that the Israeli army had thrown three men off the building, having earlier shot them on the rooftop, a military bulldozer later taking their bodies away. Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that the footage had shown “absolutely savage and inhuman behaviour”.

Barghouti said he was not sure if the soldiers had checked if the people they threw from the roof “were still alive or not”.  Under international law, soldiers are supposed to ensure that bodies, including those of enemy fighters, are treated decently.  The Israeli military, which claims it killed four Palestinian gunmen during the clashes, acknowledged the video evidence of the abuses, saying that the incident was “under review”. “This is a serious incident that is not in line with [Israeli army] values and what is expected of [Israeli army] soldiers,” it said in a statement. Shawan Jabarin, director of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, said he was doubtful Israel would properly investigate the incident.  “The most that will happen is that soldiers will be disciplined, but there will be no real investigation and no real prosecution,” said Jabarin.  (Al Jazeera)…[+]