Two Palestinian men shot during a military operation in the occupied West Bank told the BBC how Israeli soldiers forced them onto the bonnet of an army jeep and then drove along village roads at high speeds.
Their testimonies come in the wake of footage showing 23-year-old Mujahid Abadi Balas clinging to the bonnet of what appears to be the same Israeli army jeep which has sparked international outrage.
Samir Dabaya, currently hospitalized in Jenin, recounted how he was shot in the back by Israeli forces during the operation in Jabariyat on Saturday. He said he lay face-down for hours, bleeding, until soldiers approached him. On finding the 25-year-old alive, they allegedly beat him with a gun before lifting him onto the vehicle.
“They took off my (trousers). I wanted to hold onto the car, but [one soldier] hit my face and told me not to. Then he started driving,” said Dabaya. “I was waiting for death.”
Dabaya provided the BBC with security camera footage purportedly showing him semi-naked on a fast-moving jeep which was marked with the number 1.
Another Palestinian, Hesham Isleit, also told the BBC he was shot twice during the Jabariyat operation and forced onto the same jeep.
Isleit described there being “shooting from all sides” and said he was collected by an army unit as he tried to flee after being shot in the leg.
He said the jeep was so hot “it felt like fire.”
“I was barefoot and undressed. I tried to put my hand on the jeep and I couldn’t, it was burning hot. I was telling them it was very hot, and they were forcing me to get on — telling me that if I didn’t want to die, I should do it,” he said.
Responding to the original video of Balas, the Israeli army stated he was tied to the jeep in “a violation of orders and procedures” and that an investigation would be conducted into the incident.