A senior Hamas official, Izzat El-Reshiq, denounced Israeli forces on Friday, labeling their actions as a “heinous crime against innocent civilians” after images surfaced on social media depicting detained Palestinian men stripped to their underwear in Gaza. El-Reshiq, in exile abroad, urged international human rights organizations to intervene, shedding light on the plight of the men and advocating for their release.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) emphasized the need for all detainees to be treated with humanity and dignity in accordance with international humanitarian law. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, a supporter of Hamas, criticized Israel, condemning its “barbarity in the treatment of innocent captives and citizens.”
Israeli TV aired footage on Thursday revealing captured Hamas fighters sitting in a Gaza City street, stripped to their underwear with heads bowed. Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy, addressing the images, stated that the detainees were found in Jabalia and Shejaiya, Hamas strongholds. He emphasized that they were military-age men discovered in areas civilians were expected to have evacuated weeks ago.
The Israeli military has been urging civilians to leave designated operation areas since launching its campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza following the militant group’s killing spree in Israel on October 7. Disturbing photos depicted over 20 male detainees kneeling on the pavement or in the street, with Israeli soldiers observing, and a truck nearby containing a similar number of semi-naked detainees. Some Palestinians contested their alleged affiliations with Hamas, asserting that they recognized relatives in the images who had no ties to the group, including boys or youths.
El-Reshiq claimed that the detainees were captured at a school in Gaza used as a shelter after weeks of Israeli bombardments that displaced numerous Gazans.
