The Israeli military is investigating dozens of shocking photos and videos posted on social media of its soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinians in the West Bank, often while handcuffed and blindfolded.
One reserve soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been fired as a result of the posts, which one shocked Israeli described as “a disgrace to the uniform of the IDF.”
In one of the most brutal clips, IDF troops were filmed assaulting seven workers from near Hebron in the West Bank after they were caught trying to enter Israel without permits.
The images showed the Palestinian men naked or semi-naked, blindfolded and handcuffed, and screaming in pain. One of them is dragged across the ground.
A screenshot from the video shows a soldier stepping on the head of one of the Palestinians with his boot, while another points a gun at him.
A West Bank citizen was tied up, blindfolded and covered with the Israeli flag as IDF soldiers filmed themselves mocking him
One soldier danced mockingly around the captured civilian while another filmed
In another scene of violence caught on camera, a soldier kicks a blindfolded Palestinian man in the stomach, then spits on him and insults him in Arabic.
Israeli opinion was divided in comments on the Times of Israel website, which broke the story today, with some calling for the soldiers to be disciplined or fired.
Others pointed out that the abuse was “nothing” compared to the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, when 1,400 people were brutally murdered.
In one short clip, a Palestinian prisoner is blindfolded and forced to sit on the ground with his legs draped in the Israeli flag.
Responding to the evidence, the IDF said that “the soldiers’ behavior emerging from these scenes is serious and inconsistent with the values of the IDF.”
A man cries as he holds his mother’s remains wrapped in a blanket, amid the rubble of a building destroyed during an Israeli attack on the Bureij refugee camp, November 2
Satellite images of northern Gaza appear to confirm the Israeli advance deep into the enclave. Analysis of the images shows holes in the fence, tank tracks in the sand, damaged buildings and large craters from artillery
‘The incidents are being investigated. The IDF commanders will hold talks with all soldiers at the front. One soldier has been discharged from reserve duty.”
The incidents took place against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Palestinians and Israeli security forces and settlers.
The Palestinian government says 122 people have been killed in the West Bank since the war began.
Most casualties were caused by IDF fire, but in a handful of cases armed settlers were responsible.
On Tuesday, settlers set fire to an empty Palestinian house in Masafer Yatta, in the southern hills of Hebron, and threw stones at houses there and in nearby Tuba.
Palestinian and Israeli activists have also claimed that masked armed settlers attacked Palestinian civilians in the villages of Susiya and Umm al-Khair in the same area.
In Susiya, the crowd stormed the village on Sunday, intimidating local residents and telling them they had 24 hours to leave their homes or they would be killed.
MailOnline contacted the IDF for comment.