Palestinian prisoners stripped naked to “check that no one has an explosive belt”, justifies Israel

The Israeli army assures that “we will no longer see this type of image” while images of Palestinians, undressed, with their hands tied, on a sidewalk in the Gaza Strip, were broadcast.

The images went around the world. Men in underwear, sometimes blindfolded and with their hands tied, are seated on a sidewalk and then loaded into armored Israeli army vehicles. These images broadcast in the evening of Thursday December 7 have since toured the Arab world and they shocked.

The Israeli army quickly explained the following day: it indicated that these images were taken in the Jabaliya refugee camp and in the town of Chadjaya, in northern Gaza. The men are civilians and suspected Hamas members who, according to the Jewish state, were questioned by intelligence services.

Israel therefore accepts this, with some embarrassment all the same, because many of these suspects were subsequently released. “It’s useless and I think we won’t see this type of images anymore, even if from an operational point of view, it’s vital because we have to check that no one has an explosive belt or other types of weaponsspecifies Tzachi Hanegbi, head of the Israeli National Security Council. This type of image should not happen again, although I hope that we will still see many people who surrender without a fight. They will be searched properly, but they should not be arrested like what we saw in the images.”.

A message for public opinion

However, the message is clear for the IDF: it is possible to make these types of arrests, but we must no longer boast about them and stop showing them off. In addition, the question of the legal framework arises: Gaza is not like the West Bank under military occupation, and the status of civilian or Hamas militia detainees is currently very vague.

Above all, the army needs to show that the war is not in vain. This is clearly a message from the Israeli army to its public opinion. These images are the first to suggest progress towards a military victory because until then, the war goals had not been achieved. Israel has not arrested the sponsors of the October 7 attack, there remain 137 hostages in the hands of Hamas, the economy has been slow for more than two months, and the mark of 100 soldiers dead since the start of the war was exceeded on Monday December 11.