Gruesome video shows Israeli forces drag, extract dead Palestinian with bulldozer

Gruesome videos shared online show the body of the deceased Palestinian man hanging from the bulldozer after he was shot dead along the Gaza-Israeli border.

Unarmed locals had tried and failed to reach the body but were pushed back by Israeli gunfire at the scene. A tank can be seen positioned nearby.

Israel's military claim the man was suspected of placing a bomb near the Gaza border, where hundreds of Palestinian protesters have in recent years been killed by excessive Israeli force.

"Following the successful thwarting of the attack near the Gaza Strip fence earlier this morning, an IDF (Israeli army) bulldozer extracted the body of one of the attackers," a military spokeswoman told AFP.

Earlier on Sunday, the army had said it "spotted two terrorists approaching the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip and placing an explosive device adjacent to it".

"The troops opened fire towards them. A hit was identified," a military statement said.

Read also: Saudi Arabia to improve relations with Israel after Palestinian peace deal

The Gaza health ministry said that two civilians were wounded by Israeli gunfire at the scene.

Hawkish Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett has pursued a policy of retaining the bodies of militants from Gaza as bargaining chips to pressure Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Palestinian enclave, which has been holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since 2014.

At least 348 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since the weekly Great Return March protests began, the majority during the demonstrations, according to an AFP toll. 

A further 7,800 people have been wounded by gunfire, according to the World Health Organisation.

Twitter Post

Hamas has over the last year shaped a precarious informal truce with Israel, which has slightly eased its blockade of the enclave in exchange for calm along the border, despite intermittent flare-ups. 

As part of the agreements, Israel has allowed Gulf state Qatar to bring millions of dollars worth of fuel and cash into Gaza every month, easing a humanitarian crisis. 

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

Excessive force

The killing comes just a day after Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in Jerusalem's annexed Old City on Saturday after he allegedly approached officers posted near one of the gates armed with a knife, police said.

On Friday, police reported an attempted stabbing south of Jerusalem.

At the start of month, a Jerusalem car-ramming wounded 14 people, 12 of them Israeli soldiers, and triggered clashes in the West Bank that saw five Palestinians killed.

The attacks come after US President Donald Trump's much-delayed announcement on January 28 of a controversial peace plan that Palestinians from across the political spectrum have angrily dismissed as a gift to Israel. 

[Click to enlarge]

Last week reports suggested, a nine-year-old Palestinian boy would lose his eye after he was shot by Israeli forces outside a refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, 11 others were detained by Israeli forces, including minors, during raids in different cities across the the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) said.

According to their statement, Israeli soldiers abducted four Palestinians from Bethlehem, three from Hebron, and one from Jenin.

Among those detained in Hebron was a 17-year-old teenager.

Israeli forces detained three Palestinians teenagers in East Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood. They were identified as Senan Awwad, 17, Abdullah Taha, 17, and Urabi Gheith, 14.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected