WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Monday said a video of a wounded Palestinian man strapped on a military jeep by Israeli forces was “shocking” and urged a swift investigation to hold those responsible to account. At a State Department news briefing, a reporter asked: “Isn’t that basically the army using Palestinians as […]
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US shocked by video of wounded Palestinian tied to Israeli military jeep
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Monday said a video of a wounded Palestinian man strapped on a military jeep by Israeli forces was “shocking” and urged a swift investigation to hold those responsible to account.
At a State Department news briefing, a reporter asked: “Isn’t that basically the army using Palestinians as human shields?”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller responded: “I will say we saw that video. It was shocking. The practice was absolutely unacceptable. Humans should never be used as human shields.”
“The IDF should swiftly investigate what happened, hold people accountable,” Miller said, using an acronym for the Israel Defense Forces.
On Saturday, Israeli army forces tied a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military jeep during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Israeli military said.
The video circulating on social media and verified by Reuters showed a Palestinian resident of Jenin, Mujahed Azmi, on a military jeep that passed between two ambulances.
The Israeli military in a statement said Israeli forces were fired at and exchanged fire, wounding a suspect and apprehending him.
Soldiers then violated military protocol, the statement said. The military said the “conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values” of the Israeli military and the incident will be investigated and dealt with. The military said the man was transferred to medics for treatment.
“I saw the statement they put out that the actions were inconsistent with the orders those soldiers received and that is being investigated and the people involved will be dealt with accordingly. That is absolutely appropriate,” Miller said.
Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, has escalated since then with frequent army raids on militant groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages and deadly Palestinian street attacks.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)