Israeli officer shown throwing stun grenade into car during West Bank raid

Israeli police have opened an investigation after CCTV footage showed a border police officer throwing a stun grenade into a car carrying young Palestinians during a raid on the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The footage from Sunday, released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, shows an officer approaching a car and shouting at its occupants.

After a brief exchange, he reaches for his belt, grabs a stun grenade and throws it through the open door, which he pushes shut as the driver tries to get out. The officer is heard shouting: “Shut your mouth. Who are you talking to like that?”

Moments later, the grenade detonates, filling the area with smoke. The two passengers scramble out through the opposite side of the vehicle and the officer appears to fire his rifle as they duck for cover. B’Tselem said all those who were in the car survived.

Police said the officer acted “not in accordance with procedure” and that the justice ministry’s department for the investigation of police officers was handling the case. The officer has been suspended pending the investigation.

Stun grenades are designed to disorient with an intense flash and deafening blast but can inflict serious injuries, particularly when they explode at close range.

Since 2020, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,175 Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, at least a quarter of whom were children, UN data shows. No one has been charged over any of these deaths.

During the same raid on the refugee camp, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old boy, Walid Abu Sneineh, and wounded three other Palestinians, the Palestinian health ministry said. It added that two Palestinian children were injured after being shot in the lower limbs by Israeli forces during the same incident.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Late on Sunday, a four-month-old Palestinian baby, Ahmad Marouf Zaid, died after Israeli forces blocked his family from crossing a checkpoint to reach a waiting ambulance, his family told the Guardian.

They drove the severely ill baby on unpaved and mountainous back roads to Ramallah themselves, which delayed treatment by more than an hour.

An IDF spokesperson denied blocking the family from crossing to seek medical aid.

Last week, during another Israeli military raid in Ramallah, the military killed a 15-year-old boy, Amir Ahmad Jaber.

Yuli Novak, the executive director of B’Tselem, said: “The widespread and unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy that allows the killing of Palestinians and violent abuse against them without any accountability.”