(Jenin) Israeli soldiers tied a wounded Palestinian to the hood of a military vehicle during an Israeli army operation in Jenin, according to army statements on Sunday, admitting that the soldiers had broken the rules of the army.
Images of this scene which occurred on Saturday 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, he is Moujahid Raed Abbadi, 24, a young man from the Jenin refugee camp but who was with relatives in Jabriyat, between Burqin and Jenin, in the northern West Bank busy.
“During counter-terrorism operations to apprehend wanted suspects in Wadi Burqin area, terrorists opened fire on the troops,” the army said.
During this exchange of fire between soldiers and armed people, 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 says, specifying that this arrest was made “in violation of orders and standard operating procedures”.
According to the army, the man strapped to the vehicle was later transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent to receive necessary medical treatment.
Mr. Abbadi told AFP that he was injured by gunfire and remained unable to move for more than two hours behind an Israeli military vehicle.
He said that these soldiers “lifted him up”, “threw him to the ground”, then “threw him on the hood of a jeep” which he said was burning at the time.
Doctors at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin confirmed to AFP that Moujahid Raed Abbadi was being treated at the facility.
Mr. Abbadi “has a fracture” and “injuries,” he was “emergency operated on” and will need to be operated on again, according to Bahaa Abou Hammad, a surgeon at the hospital.
“He has a burn on his back, from the neck to his lower back,” he added.
The city of Jenin and the surrounding refugee camps have for years been the scene of confrontations between the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups.
The level of violence in the West Bank, which was already high before the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7 after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil, has only 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 Gaza war broke out.
Palestinian attacks killed at least 14 Israelis in the West Bank during the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
