Relatives of Palestinians who were arrested and stripped naked by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the detainees are civilians “known to be close to the Fatah movement,” and not fighters in the ranks of the Hamas movement.
On Thursday, Israeli social media circulated video clips of Palestinian civilians who were arrested from asylum centers and homes while they were almost naked, describing it as “the surrender of Hamas fighters,” at a time when Israeli forces are seeking to expand their occupation in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians appeared in the clips lined up on their knees with their heads down in the middle of the city, in their underwear, in a horrific view, and surrounded by a number of Israeli soldiers.
Israeli officials, journalists, and activists posted on social media that the detainees were “surrendered Hamas fighters.”
Testimony of a relative
Quoted by Anadolu, Hani Al-Madhoun reported that he saw his brother Mahmoud, his father, and his nephew in the photos published on Israeli social media, where they were almost naked.
Al-Madhoun added, “My brother Mahmoud lacks the physical qualities necessary to be a fighter. I saw Mahmoud in the video that Israel claims is of Hamas fighters. Half of the people who appeared in this video are from the Al-Madhoun family, or people from our neighborhood in which we grew up.”
Al-Madhoun confirmed that he knows approximately half of the individuals who appeared in the video, and that they do not belong to the Hamas movement.
Al-Madhoun also pointed out that his family “is known for its closeness to the Fatah movement, a competitor to Hamas in the Palestinian political arena,” noting that the majority of their neighborhood’s residents “have attitudes toward the Fatah movement.”
For its part, the Hamas movement condemned the Israeli army’s arrest of displaced civilians in Gaza, stripping them of their clothes and photographing them, stressing that this is considered “an act of mercenaries and terrorist militias that have transgressed all values, customs and laws.”
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that, as of Tuesday evening, has left more than 18,000 dead and about 50,000 wounded, most of them children and women, massive destruction of infrastructure and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to official Palestinian sources.
