Click to see full-size image. Via X.
Dozens of Palestinian men were rounded up by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip on December 7.
Images posted to social media showed the detained men who were made to strip to their underwear, kneel on the street, wear blindfolds, and pack into the cargo bed of a military vehicle.
Click to see full-size image. Via X.
Click to see full-size image. Via X.
At least some of the detained men were confirmed to be civilians with no affiliation to the Hamas Movement or any other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza. One of the men was even identified as a correspondent at The New Arab’s Arabic-language service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
“The Israeli occupation army arrested the journalist and the director of ‘The New Arab’ office in Gaza, our colleague Diaa Al-Kahlot, from Market Street in Beit Lahia, along with a group of his brothers, relatives, and other civilians,” Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said in a statement..
“The occupation deliberately forced Gazans to take off their clothes, searched them, and humiliated them when they were arrested before taking them to an unknown destination, according to what the people there told us. Pictures and video clips spread showing soldiers arresting dozens of Gazans using criminal and humiliating methods.”
Hussam Kanafani, the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed editor-in-chief, noted in the statement that Al-Kahlot and his family were still missing.
“We will make every effort possible, in cooperation with international institutions and organizations concerned with the rights and freedom of journalists in the world, to determine the whereabouts of our colleague Diaa and release him as soon as possible,” Kanafani said.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor posted an image of one detainment and said in a statement on its website that “the Israeli army detained and severely abused dozens of Palestinian civilians.”
“Euro-Med Monitor received reports that Israeli forces launched random and arbitrary arrest campaigns against displaced people, including doctors, academics, journalists, and elderly men,” the monitoring group said.
The Israeli media, without indicating a source, has portrayed the images as the surrender of fighters from Hamas and other armed factions.
Click to see full-size image. Via X.
Meanwhile, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed that dozens were arrested, saying that they were being investigated.
“Jabaliya and Shejaiya are ‘centers of gravity’… for terrorists, and we are fighting them. They are hiding underground and come out and we fight them. Whoever is left in those areas, they come out from tunnel shafts, and some from buildings, and we investigate who is linked to Hamas, and who isn’t. We arrest them all and interrogate them,” Hagari says in response to a question at a press conference.
The exact number of men who were arrested by the IDF remains unknown. The mass arrests came just a few days after Israel expanded ground operations in northern Gaza and launched an offensive in the south, mainly targeting the city of Khan Yunis.
The arrests highlight the indiscriminate nature of Israel’s ongoing operations in Gaza. It will also further complicate any talks to free the remaining hostages with Hamas and other armed factions in the Strip.
