Israeli army tweets video that appears to show soldiers shooting Palestinians who surrendered

Issued on: 13/10/2023 – 20:39Modified: 13/10/2023 – 20:40

4 min

The tweet posted on the @idfONLINE account at 8:39 pm Israel time Tuesday said that troops from the 17th Battalion (Bislamah) had exchanged fire earlier that day with “four armed terrorists” and “eliminated” them. The tweet said the incident happened in the area of Zikim Beach, in Israeli territory 2.5 km north of the Gaza Strip. Fighting had been continuing in the area on Tuesday for a fourth day after the devastating attack by Hamas and Islamic Jihad commandos on October 7. 

The tweet was accompanied by a 48-second video consisting of two sequences.

The first sequence, 22 seconds long, shows the bodies of four men lying on the ground, their torsos bare. A Kalashnikov-type assault rifle is visible near one of the bodies, and tracks in the sand suggesting that the body had been moved.

Four Israeli soldiers are visible: two kneeling in the background and two standing next to the bodies facing the camera. One of them says: “Following a confrontation with four terrorists, this is what happens to those who come into Israel. They do not get onto our territory. Tsahel [the IDF] is strong and it protects us. Four armed terrorists who come to do evil on our territory, to do evil in our sector.”

A second sequence, 26 seconds long, shows what appears to be aerial footage of the same scene, filmed by one or more drones, with onscreen graphics highlighting certain elements. 

The sequence of events is unclear. At 0’23, two men are seen kneeling wearing white shirts. Two other men are lying on the ground, their torsos nude. The four men, who can be seen moving, are encircled by a red ring. No weapons are visible. 

At 0’26, a blurry shot shows a vehicle moving, encircled in white. The shot is so blurry that the vehicle cannot be identified.

At 0’30, a shot shows the four men on the sandy road encircled in red. Two of the men kneel on the ground, while two others lie down prone. Two of the men raise their hands above their head in an apparent sign of surrender. One of them, on his knees, is seen waving a piece of white clothing. 

At 0’33, a blurry shot shows a vehicle advancing along a sandy road, encircled in white.

At 0’37, six figures can be seen advancing along the road, indicated by white arrows. Three figures are seen prone on the ground, immobile, ringed in red.

At 0’40, a small flash is seen from one of the six advancing figures and an instant later a larger flash near one of the prone figures.

In the IDF video, weapons are visible only in the first 22 seconds when the IDF soldiers are speaking next to the bodies. In the aerial footage, no weapons are clearly visible, though the images are blurry and it is impossible to see whether weapons were on the scene. 

First responders post photos of same scene 

Medical personnel also posted photos of the same scene. A post on the South First Responders Telegram channel on October 10 referred to a “Hamas infiltration attempt” near Zikim that day, and included three photographs. Two of the photographs show the same four bodies with three Kalashnikovs lying nearby, along with three ammunition magazines, a handgun and a satellite phone or radio. A third photo shows the same equipment gathered together at the soldiers’ feet. 

Reactions to the video

A copy of the video tweeted by an Israeli journalist has been seen more than 700,000 times.

Palestinian accounts supporting the Hamas incursion, one of which attracted more than 300,000 views for the video, said the IDF video showed an “execution” and asserted that the four men were civilians.