NBC NEWS
In one photo shared on social media, men can be seen wearing nothing but underwear as they kneel in a line, surrounded by soldiers in full combat gear wielding guns.
Dozens of Palestinian men stripped to their underwear, blindfolded and made to kneel while detained by Israeli soldiers in Gaza can be seen in images that emerged on social media Thursday.
The photos and videos were circulated widely, with NBC News able to geolocate some of the footage to the city of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. It was unclear exactly when and in what circumstances the detentions depicted in the images occurred, although it appears to be the first time that such images have been shared online and by Israeli news media.
In one photo shared on social media, men can be seen wearing nothing but underwear as they kneel in a line, surrounded by soldiers in full combat gear wielding guns amid shoes and clothing that are lying scattered on the ground.
They are kneeling in front of a bombed-out building that once housed a pharmacy in Beit Lahia, a city that has remained a hub of clashes in the north even as Israel’s military has turned its focus to an assault on the south. In the background, more Palestinian men can be seen herded in the back of a camouflaged Israeli military vehicle.
In another photo, several dozen blindfolded men can be seen kneeling in what appears to be a sandy field or pit, all facing one way as armed Israeli soldiers stand behind them. It was unclear exactly where that photo was taken.
The identities of the men in the footage and the reasons for their detention are unclear. Israel said it had detained a number of “military-age men” in the area for questioning to identify any Hamas fighters.
“We’re talking about military aged men who were discovered in areas that civilians were supposed to have evacuated,” Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said Friday.
He said that “now those individuals will be questioned and we will work out who indeed was a terrorist.” Levy added that it was “important to remember” that the IDF has been engaging in close quarter combat in the area with Hamas fighters who he said “have been deliberately disguising themselves as civilians and operating from within not just civilian areas, but civilian buildings.”
But at least some of those detained are civilians without any known affiliation to Hamas or another militant group, according to their employer — an Arab news outlet — and the testimony of a U.S.-based humanitarian worker who says three of his relatives are among the group.
“If Israel is after Hamas, they are wasting their time arresting my brother and nephews,” said Hani Almadhoun, a Washington, D.C. resident who works at a U.S charity that fundraises for and supports the work of the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency, UNRWA.
