Israel forces caught tossing Palestinian bodies off West Bank roof

The Israeli army has desecrated the bodies of three Palestinians killed in a raid on Thursday in Qabatiya in the northern occupied West Bank.

Three Israeli soldiers were caught on camera on the roof of a building, dragging, pushing, throwing and in one case kicking what appear to be dead men off the edge.

An army bulldozer subsequently lifted the bodies using its metal claw attachment, witnesses said.

They noted that before the desecration, the army conducted demolition around the besieged house.

Zakaria Zakarneh, the uncle of one of the men, said he saw what had happened. Israeli soldiers had gone to the roof after the Palestinians were killed, he told Reuters.

"They tried to move the bodies down with a bulldozer but it didn't work so they threw them from the second floor down to the ground," he said. "I was in pain, very sad and angry I was unable to do anything," Zakarneh said.

The videos began circulating online on Thursday, creating outrage in social media.

Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video as Qabatiya and confirm the date from eyewitness accounts and video filmed by local Palestinian news organisations showing the same scene.

The Israeli military said in a statement the incident was serious and was not in keeping with its values, adding it had opened an investigation into the occurrence.

Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, with almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests and regular gun battles between security forces and Palestinian fighters, as well as attacks by illegal Jewish settlers on Palestinian communities.

At least 710 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,700 injured by Israel in the occupied West Bank since October 7, according to the Health Ministry.