Several injured Palestinians told the BBC that Israeli troops forced them into jeeps.
Via Lucy Williamson, Middle East Reporter
Two other Palestinian men, injured in a military operation in the occupied West Bank last week, told the BBC that Israeli soldiers forced them onto the roof of an army jeep and drove them – the pair when at high speed – along village roads.
Their accounts appeared a few days later. Footage of Mujahid Abadi Balas, 23 years old clinging to the hood of what appeared to be an Israeli army jeep has caused outrage around the world.
The BBC has now spoken to two men who allege they were treated similarly during the operation in Jabariyat, on the outskirts of Jenin, last Saturday.
Samir Dabaya, 25, now in hospital in Jenin, said he was shot in the back by Israeli troops during the Jabariyat operation, and lay prone and bleeding for hours until soldiers arrived to assess his condition.
When they turned him over and found he was still alive, he was beaten with a gun, he said, before being dragged away, carried to a jeep and thrown into it.
“They stripped me [trousers]. I wanted to hold on to the car, but [one soldier] hit me in the face and told me not to do that. Then he started driving,” he said. “I’m waiting to die.”
Samir showed us security camera footage showing him half-naked, lying on a fast jeep with the number 1 clearly marked on the side of the vehicle.
The location appears to match where the activity took place, but no date or time is recorded on the record.
Another Palestinian man, Hesham Isleit, also told the BBC that he was shot twice during the operation in Jabariyat and forced into the same military jeep marked number 1.
He described “shooting from all sides” and said he tried to run away but was shot in the leg, after which a military unit picked him and another man up.
“They ordered us to stand up and undressed us,” he said, “then they asked us to get in the front of the jeep.”
The car was so hot it felt “like it was on fire,” he said.
“I was barefoot and not wearing any clothes. I tried to put my hand on the jeep but couldn’t, it was burning hot. I told them it was very hot and they forced me to keep going – telling me that if I didn’t want to die then I should do it.”
We have presented these allegations to the Israeli military; they said the case is under review.
In response to the original video of Mujahid Abadi Balas last week, the Israeli military said he was tied to the jeep in “a violation of orders and procedures” and that his case would be investigated.
“The actions of the forces in the video of the incident are not consistent with the values of the IDF,” it said in a written response.
From his hospital bed, Mujahid told the BBC that he did not expect to survive the experience and said his last prayer while lying in the moving vehicle.
He showed the BBC a second video, recorded from a distance, that appeared to corroborate his account of being thrown into a car by Israeli soldiers.
“Once they confirmed that I had nothing on me [no weapon], they got down from the jeep and started hitting me on my face, head and wounds,” he said. “The soldiers grabbed my wrists and ankles and [swung me] right and left, before throwing me into the air.
He said he fell to the ground, was picked up and swung again, before being thrown into a jeep and driven to a nearby house.
The army said it went to Jabariyat last weekend to arrest wanted suspects and that during the operation “terrorists opened fire on the troops, who responded with live ammunition”.
Hesham said the house he and Mujahid stayed at that day belonged to Majd al-Azmi, a neighbor and friend who was captured in the operation and remains in Israeli custody.
All three men said they were unarmed and were all quickly released by the military after identity checks.
The Israeli human rights group Btselem has been monitoring the cases.
Since the Hamas offensive on October 7, violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and settlers has reached record levels, said the agency’s spokesman, Shai Parnes.
“It is more extreme, more brutal and more extreme,” he said. “Since October 7, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed – more than 100 of them minors – and every day there are invasions of Palestinian cities.”
Jenin has been a particular target of Israeli attacks since the Hamas offensive on 7 October, with more than 120 Palestinians – civilians and militants – killed by Israeli forces there.
But armed men still patrol the Jenin camp, where militants backed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad are stationed, and residents of the town say there are no signs that the fighting is easing.
“What the military doesn’t know is that resistance is an idea planted in the heart,” said one resident. “It won’t stop. If one person is killed, five others will replace him.”
During an Israeli operation this week, bombs buried deep in the roads around the camp hit two units as they entered – killing one soldier and wounding 16 others.
This battle began long before the Gaza War, but tactics and attitudes here are changing in its wake, and the Israeli military’s behavior is also under close scrutiny in the West Bank.
This is a different territory than Gaza, but has the same enemies, engaged in a broader war.