'Brutal crime': Israeli forces drove over body of Palestinian — ministry

Palestinians shout slogans on January 9, 2024 during the funeral of three men killed during an overnight Israeli raid on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. (Photo/AFP)

Palestinian officials accused Israel of a "brutal crime" after footage shared on social media appeared to show a military vehicle running over a dead fighter in the occupied West Bank.

Palestine's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the footage was from a military raid in the city of Tulkarem.

Israel's military confirmed they had killed three Palestinians on Monday night and engaged in gun battles around Tulkarem, but they have not yet responded to AFP news agency's requests for comment on the footage.

The Palestinian ministry said the incident summed up the "culture of hatred" fostered by Israeli forces.

"This complex and brutal crime is not the first and will not be the last in the series of crimes of the occupation and terrorist settler militia members," the ministry said in a statement.

Violence in the occupied West Bank has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades since October 7, when attacks on Israel by Palestinian resistance group Hamas sparked all-out war, still raging in besieged Gaza.

Israeli forces carry out regular raids in the occupied West Bank, often triggering gun battles with Palestinians.

An Israeli police spokesperson said their forces had carried out an operation with other agencies in Tulkarem on Monday to arrest a "wanted terrorist".

The police gave no detail of the possible charges against the suspect.

Funerals

The armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said the three men were their fighters.

Large crowds of people marched through Tulkarem on Tuesday chanting slogans during the funerals of the men, an AFP correspondent reported.

The footage shared on social media appears to be taken from a security camera and shows an armoured vehicle slowly driving over an apparently lifeless body.

The vehicle then stops, restarts and drives off, crushing the body again with its back wheels.

Other footage, apparently taken from the same camera, shows an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and militants.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man near Ramallah, according to sources on both sides.

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Source: TRT