Images suggest Israel ran over Palestinian detainees with armoured vehicle

Israeli forces in Gaza destroyed the body of a Palestinian man by running him over either using a tank or a bulldozer, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said on Friday.

The man is believed to have been in Israeli custody at the time or as of recently. It is not clear if he was alive or dead at the time he was run over.

Images of the body following the incident, which happened on Thursday in the Zeitoun area on the Salah al-Din road near the Star factory south of Gaza City, were shared online by the human rights group and have been reviewed by Middle East Eye.

They show the victim’s body completely crushed, with no means of identifying him.

A zip tie can be seen on the remaining hand, equipment commonly used by Israeli forces in Gaza to detain Palestinians.

Euro-Med spokesperson Muhammad Shehada said on X that witnesses told the group that the man was detained and interrogated by Israeli forces “before he was driven over by an armoured vehicle”.

The Israeli military told Middle East Eye it was “checking” the incident.

Ramy Abdu, chairman of the rights group, told MEE they believe hundreds of Palestinians have been run over by Israeli tanks.

Most, he said, were in northern Gaza, in places such as Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Zeitoun, as well as along the coastal al-Rashid road that Palestinians have used to flee.

“The brutality of Israel in this war has no limits,” Abdu told MEE. 

“The Israeli leaders themselves have adopted a strategy of demonising and dehumanising Palestinians, which means that even burning them alive is allowed and you see even the Israeli soldiers are competing with each other to publish stories on social media about the level of brutality they are willing to inflict on Palestinians.”

Far-right Israeli Telegram channels have lauded the images of the crushed man in Gaza.

“It shows that they are celebrating even the wrongdoing and the crimes carried out by their soldiers,” Abdu said.

On Thursday, more than 100 people were killed when Israeli troops fired at a crowd of Palestinians seeking aid from a convoy of trucks in Gaza City.

Israel has placed Gaza in a chokehold, allowing little to no aid or goods into the enclave, with UN experts and NGOs warning of famine.

The Israeli military accused the hungry Palestinians of causing a mass crush. However, according to witnesses, video footage and medics, there was heavy Israeli fire at the time directed at the crowd.

During a congressional hearing on Thursday in Washington, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that over 25,000 Palestinians killed by Israel in the war on Gaza were women and children.

The Palestinian health ministry puts the total death toll at over 30,000, with at least 7,000 people missing. 

Although a detailed breakdown has not been provided, the health ministry has indicated that approximately 70 percent of the fatalities are women and children.

Around 1,200 Israelis were killed during Hamas’ attack on Israeli communities near Gaza on 7 October.