Israeli Forces Tie Wounded Palestinian Man To Vehicle’s Hood During West Bank Raid

Israeli forces tied a wounded Palestinian man to an armored vehicle’s hood as they drove through the occupied West Bank during a raid this weekend – an incident a United Nations expert described as an example of the military using Palestinian civilians as human shields, an accusation the U.S. and Israel have repeatedly made against Palestinian militants like Hamas.

Video that went viral on Saturday showed a jeep belonging to the Israeli military driving through the streets of Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank that continues to face military raids and settler violence. Soldiers with the Israeli Defense Force tied a visibly bloodied Palestinian man on the hood of one of their armored vehicles, as shown in the video.

The man has since been identified as Jenin resident Mujahed Azmi. The video was verified by Al Jazeera, Reuters and Anadolu, and later confirmed by the Israeli military itself.

Israeli forces on Saturday were conducting a raid in Jenin when they wounded Azmi, the man’s family told Reuters. When the family asked for an ambulance to take Azmi to a hospital, the IDF instead took him, strapped him onto the jeep’s hood and drove off, they said.

“What happened is another scene of the daily crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, particularly against those who are in custody,” Abdullah al-Zagari, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told Anadolu.

Israeli forces initially would not allow crews with the Palestine Red Crescent to administer first aid to Azmi or take him to a hospital, the humanitarian group said.

“The jeep passed by, and the injured man was on the hood. One arm was tied to the windshield, and the other arm was on his abdomen,” ambulance driver