Israeli Soldiers Write ID Numbers on Palestinians' Foreheads in 'Dehumanising' West Bank Raid

Israeli soldiers wrote identification numbers on Palestinian men during a military raid in Qabatiya, fuelling anger over what critics called a 'dehumanising' practice.

Footage shared online by Palestinian human rights advocate Ihab Hassan showed a man with the number '44' written in black marker across his forehead and arms.

The man was identified in translated text accompanying the video as freed Palestinian detainee Ahmad Hethnawi. In the footage, he described Israeli forces marking Palestinian men with numbers before questioning them during the raid in Qabatiya, a town near Jenin in the northern West Bank. The footage also appeared to show Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the area.

The images quickly drew outrage, with social media users describing the markings as degrading and dehumanising. Some compared the images of numbered detainees to practices associated with concentration camps, while others said the incident reflected what they viewed as the deteriorating treatment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

IDF Says Men Were Marked for Interrogation

Army Radio reported Tuesday that IDF soldiers had written numbers on the bodies of Palestinian suspects during Monday's operation in Qabatiya. In response, the IDF told Army Radio that 'security forces marked suspects who were being interrogated as part of the operation'.

The military said commanders had addressed the matter with the soldiers involved.

'The seriousness of the act was explained to the soldiers, and lessons were drawn from the matter,' the IDF said. The army announced Monday that it had detained two people it described as 'terrorists' and raided more than 100 homes in the Qabatiya area.

The military said the two detainees were suspected of planning and promoting attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. The IDF's description of the detainees has not been independently verified by IBTimes UK.

Not the First Marking Incident

The Qabatiya footage follows reports of similar incidents in the West Bank. Earlier this year, footage from Dura near Hebron and other areas appeared to show Palestinians marked with numbers during Israeli military activity.

In April, images also emerged of Palestinian women with numbers written on their hands after residents were briefly allowed back into the Jenin refugee camp to collect belongings.

At the time, the IDF said soldiers had been trying to organise residents according to their areas of residence but acknowledged that using markers showed 'poor judgment'. The army said proper conduct had been clarified and lessons were learned.

West Bank Tensions Keep Rising

The incident comes amid increased scrutiny of Israeli conduct across the West Bank. On Monday night, Israeli settlers allegedly set fire to Palestinian fields in Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah, and carried out attacks in two other locations, injuring at least two Palestinians, according to Palestinian media.

Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, reported that settlers entered Beita, south of Nablus, and hurled stones at residents.Arabic media also reported that armed settlers stopped a Palestinian vehicle south of Bethlehem and pepper-sprayed passengers, including a young child. Those accounts could not immediately be independently verified.

Israeli security data reported by Army Radio show a sharp rise in serious settler violence, with 660 incidents of Jewish nationalist-motivated crime recorded in the first half of 2026, compared with 405 in the second half of 2025, an increase of about 63%. The first half of 2025 recorded 440 such incidents.

The figures also showed the number of Palestinians injured in settler attacks rising from 82 in the second half of 2025 to 140 in the first half of 2026, while attacks on Israeli security forces increased from 30 to 45.

The incident also comes as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz moves to transfer some West Bank civilian enforcement powers from the IDF to the Israeli police.

Katz has instructed the military to prepare a plan under which police would assume responsibility for civilian enforcement matters, allowing the IDF to focus on security operations and protecting Israeli communities.

Katz said Israel would 'not allow violence or unauthorised parties to take the law into their own hands.'