Male had tried to plant a bomb, says IDF, which extracted his body with a bulldozer

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian suspected of placing a bomb near the Gaza border, before extracting his body with a bulldozer, the Israeli army has said.

“Following the successful thwarting of the attack near the Gaza Strip fence earlier this morning, an IDF [Israel Defence Forces] bulldozer extracted the body of one of the attackers,” a military spokeswoman said.

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.

After the incident, a video from Gaza emerged showing a bulldozer approaching the body as young, apparently unarmed men, were trying to collect it. The sound of gunfire is heard and the men run away as the bulldozer collects the body. A tank can be seen nearby.

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

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