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A video circulating widely on social media appears to show Israeli soldiers pushing bodies from the roof of a building in the West Bank.
The footage has attracted millions of views and gained further traction after it was reshared by South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung.
In a post on X, he said he would seek to verify the clip and determine what action, if any, had been taken.
He later clarified that the video dates back to September 2024, and emphasised the need to uphold international humanitarian law.
The footage has been shared online from multiple angles, often accompanied by claims that it shows soldiers pushing children from a building, with some posts alleging torture or unlawful killings.
However, not only is the clip not recent, having been filmed during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank around two years ago, it has also recirculated without its original context.
What happened?
The video is from September 2024 and shows Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on a rooftop in the West Bank during a raid.
At the time, Associated Press (AP) journalists at the scene reported that they witnessed what is shown in the footage: three Israeli soldiers pushing what appears to be a lifeless body off the edge of a rooftop.
Residents of the town of Qabatiya told the AP that the military took custody of the four bodies. One was named by a relative as Shadi Zakarneh.
That same month, the Israeli military announced that the IDF and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security and counterintelligence agency, had killed the “head of a terrorist organisation in Qabatiya” alongside six other terrorists.
The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, identified three videos posted on social media showing the incident from different angles.
They can be geolocated to the north of Qabatiya near a primary school, and show IDF soldiers throwing at least three bodies from the rooftop of the building.
The incident prompted outrage from Palestinian human rights groups and governments.
At the time, then-spokesperson for the Pentagon in the US, John Kirby, called the footage “deeply disturbing” and said Washington had sought clarification on what happened.
Under the Geneva Conventions, warring parties must treat deceased soldiers, including enemy soldiers, with dignity, including preventing them from being mutilated and often returning them to the deceased’s family.
In response, the IDF said in a statement that the incident was “serious” and “did not coincide with IDF values and the expectations from IDF soldiers.”
“During counterterrorism activity in Qabatiya, IDF forces surrounded a structure in which a wanted terrorist was located,” they said at the time. “During exchanges of fire, four armed terrorists were killed.”
They also announced that they would investigate the incident.
What did the investigation find?
Although South Korea’s Lee later backtracked on his post, admitting that the footage was old, Israel’s Foreign Ministry was quick to respond, calling his post “unacceptable”.
The IDF, which didn’t publish the results of the investigation into the matter, confirmed that the bodies were lowered from the rooftop following a raid in Qabatiya.
A spokesperson told The Cube that the bodies were lowered during an “unusual incident” for identification purposes, citing a risk to troops.
They added that the case was reviewed, did not align with IDF values, and that lessons were learned, including the need for alternative procedures and higher-level authorisation.
They declined to comment further.
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