IDF launches investigation after footage emerges showing soldiers abusing and humiliating West Bank Palestinians

• The IDF is investigating incidents of its soldiers abusing West Bank civilians
• One brutal clip saw IDF soldiers abusing seven naked, blindfolded labourers 
• LIVE: Hamas officials claim 27 killed in Israel strike near UN school 

The Israeli army is investigating dozens of shocking photos and videos posted on social media of their soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinians in the West Bank, often while handcuffed and blindfolded.

One reserve soldier in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been sacked as a result of the posts, which were described by one horrified Israeli as ‘shaming the uniform of the IDF’.

In one of the most brutal clips, IDF troops were filmed as they abused seven labourers from near Hebron on the West bank after they were caught attempting to enter Israel without a permit.

The footage showed the Palestinian men stripped naked or half-naked, blindfolded and handcuffed, and screaming in pain. One of them is being dragged on the ground.

A screenshot from the video shows a soldier stepping with his boot on the head of one of the Palestinians, while another points a weapon at him.

A West Bank citizen was tied up, blindfolded and covered in the Israeli flag as IDF soldiers filmed themselves mocking him

One soldier mockingly danced around the captured civilian while another filmed

READ MORE: Hamas officials say Israeli strike has hit another refugee camp, ‘massacring’ 15 people – as IDF tanks and troops close in on Gaza City

In another scene of violence caught on camera, a soldier kicks a blindfolded Palestinian man in the stomach, then spits on him and insults him in Arabic.

Israeli opinion was divided in comments on the Times of Israel website which broke the story today, with some calling for the soldiers to be disciplined or discharged.

Others pointing out that the abuse was ‘nothing’ compared to the atrocities carried out by Hamas terrorists on October 7, when 1400 people were brutally murdered.

In one short clip a Palestinian detainee is blindfolded, forced to sit on the ground with his legs draped in the Israeli flag.

Responding to the evidence, the IDF said that ‘The [soldiers’] conduct that emerges from these scenes is grave and inconsistent with the values of the IDF.

A man cries as he holds the remains of his mother wrapped in a blanket amid the rubble of building destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp, November 2

Satellite images of northern Gaza appear to confirm the Israeli advance deep into the enclave. Analysis of the images show breaches through the perimeter fence, tank tracks in the sand, damaged buildings and large craters from artillery

‘The incidents are under investigation. The IDF commanders will hold talks with all the soldiers on the front. One soldier has been dismissed from reserve service.’

The incidents came against a backdrop of escalating tension between Palestinians and Israeli security forces and settlers.

The Palestinian government says that 122 people on the West Bank have been killed since the war began.

Most casualties were caused by IDF fire, but in a handful of cases, armed settlers were responsible.

On Tuesday, settlers set fire to an empty Palestinian house in Masafer Yatta, in the southern Hebron Hills, and hurled rocks at homes there and in nearby Tuba.

Palestinian and Israeli activists have also claimed that masked armed settlers attacked Palestinian civilians in the villages of Susiya and Umm al-Khair in the same area.

In Susiya the mob stormed the village on Sunday, intimidated local residents and told them that they had 24 hours to leave their homes or else they would be killed.

MailOnline contacted the IDF for comment. 

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