• Israeli terrorists have been filmed across the West Bank seemingly disposing of Palestinians from rooftops.
• The footage from the videos leaked online shows the aftermath of an attack which took place on a home near Jenin
Israeli forces have killed at least 5 Palestinians near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, where footage has emerged of Israeli soldiers throwing at least four bodies off a rooftop in the town of Qabatiya.
The soldiers had surrounded a house during an attack where there have been numerous and sustained terrorist attacks by Israelis who then fired anti-tank rifle grenades into the house, where subsequently this footage has emerged of Israeli soldiers throwing the bodies of the people, they presumably found inside the house off of the building.
Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative had spoken to Al-Jazeera making the following statement, which typified the way in which the genocide of Palestinians was being normalised and overlooked:
“This footage shows the absolutely savage and inhuman behaviour of Israeli soldiers. Not only [had] they shot these people and let them bleed to death, they beat them with their boots, they humiliated their bodies, they mutilated their bodies, and then they threw them from the rooftop to the ground. “I don't know if they checked they were still alive or not when they did that, but this is such a savage behaviour and you cannot say that this is part of the war because there is no war in the West Bank. “There is war from one side, military actions from one side, on a civilian population. “The West Bank does not have an army, does not have even a resistance force like Hamas that is fighting Israelis, no. They have some gunmen here and there. They don't represent an army. “What you see here is a grave violation of international law and Human rights first of all by this kind of use of military force against civilian population. Second by this terrible behaviour in such a town like Qabatiya today where they besieged no less than 18 children in a kindergarten. Up till this moment, they are besieged with their teachers. They cannot go home since the morning. They are besieging workers of the municipality and they are besieging journalists who don't know what to do because if they try to get out of the places they are in, they will be shot. “It’s absolute savage behaviour by this Israeli army that feels absolutely unaccountable to anything; unaccountable to law; unaccountable to human rights; and unaccountable to international law. “They just do whatever they want not only in Qabatiya as they did today but everywhere in the West Bank every day we hear of new crimes that they are committing.”
People are becoming accustomed to reporting on death on an almost daily basis and there are moments in this conflict where just the emotional impact of footage cuts through.
Given the horror seen in the videos, it is hard to say what will happen as a result of this footage having been captured and posted online.
It is very rare for the Israeli army to take to task some of its’ own soldiers and even if they did it is highly unlikely that any reprimand would be harsh.
In the West, it is still extremely difficult to tell what constitutes a war crime now even when it has been filmed.
What is certain is that speaking out about it carries graver consequences than the crime itself.
