Israel probes soldier's dance near Palestinian prisoner Published duration 5 October 2010

image caption The Palestinian woman appears bound and blindfolded with her face up against a wall

Israel's army says it is investigating a video which appears to show a soldier dancing around a bound and blindfolded Palestinian woman.

The video first appeared on the YouTube website and has since been aired on Israeli television news reports.

Palestinian officials have called for tough action against the soldier's "immoral and inhumane" conduct.

In August, a female Israeli soldier posted photos on Facebook of her posing next to Palestinian prisoners.

On that occasion, the Israeli military described the behaviour as "shameful".

'Ugly actions'

The latest YouTube video , which looks like it has been filmed on a mobile phone, appears to show an Israeli soldier in uniform dancing to Arabic music around a female Palestinian prisoner.

The woman is seen bound and blindfolded with her face up against a wall.

The soldier appears to move his body suggestively as he dances close to the woman, the BBC's West Bank correspondent Jon Donnison reports.

The Israeli military has issued a statement denouncing the behaviour, saying such incidents were "isolated cases that do not represent the IDF as a whole".

It has launched an investigation into the video.

But Issa Qaraqei, the Palestinian Authority's minister of prisoner affairs, told the BBC that the "ugly Israeli actions represent a blatant violation of human rights".

As in the previous incident involving the Facebook photos, the video "shows the very low immoral and inhumane status of the state of Israel," he added.

Mr Qaraqei said officials had identified the Palestinian prisoners who appeared in the Facebook photos and had filed a complaint against the former soldier, Eden Aberjil, on their behalf.