The IDF appeared to admit two significant human-rights errors over the weekend.
In one case, the IDF may have mistakenly killed Palestinian civilians in the Muwasi coastal region of southern Gaza while it was hunting terrorists. In the other case, a small group of soldiers illegally tied a Palestinian to the hood of a military jeep.
In the first case, Hamas and the Red Cross are claiming between 22-25 killed Palestinians, and between 45-50 others injued, not distinguishing between civilians and combatants, with Hamas claiming an Israeli attack and the Red Cross statement referring to "the parties to the conflict" and "heavy calibre projectiles" without explicitly accusing Israel by name.
The Red Cross warned "the parties to the conflict" to avoid putting "the lives of civilians and Red Cross staff at risk."
The IDF did not deliberately attack any civilians in the Muwasi protected area, it said in a statement.
Nevertheless, the vague wording left open the possibility that there was a mistaken attack there.
Clarifications on military actions
IDF sources did not deny that an error may have been made, emphasizing that the situation would likely be clarified within a matter of days due to its high global sensitivity.
There have been other instances in which, from the start, the IDF simply said it knew it had not attacked in an area where an incident in dispute took place.In the second incident, a small number of IDF forces strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military jeep during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.
A video circulating on social media and verified by Reuters showed a Palestinian resident of Jenin, Mujahed Azmi, on the jeep as it passed between two ambulances.
Israeli forces were fired at and exchanged fire, wounding a suspect and apprehending him, the IDF said in a statement.
Soldiers then violated military protocol, the statement said, adding: “The suspect was taken by the forces while tied on top of a vehicle.”
The “conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values” of the Israeli military, the IDF said, adding that the incident would be investigated and dealt with.
The individual was transferred to medics for treatment, it said.
IDF sources told the Post that the soldiers tried to hand the Palestinian over to the Red Crescent, but that the Red Cross ambulance had no space.
Given that the soldiers also did not have an additional seat for a wounded captive, they thought getting him to the hospital, even tied to the hood of the car, was better than other options, the sources said.
Reuters was able to match the location from corroborating and verified footage shared on social media that shows a vehicle transporting an individual tied on top of a vehicle in Jenin. The date was confirmed by an eyewitness interviewed by Reuters.
According to the family of Azmi, there was an arrest raid, during which he was wounded, and when they asked for an ambulance, the army took him, strapped him on the hood and drove off.
Neither case appears to have involved illegal intent in advance.