Civilian Palestinian men stripped and detained by Israeli army
By Nadda Osman, Aina J Khan and Nader Durgham
LONDON/BEIRUT – Israeli forces stripped dozens of civilian Palestinian men of their clothes before detaining them and taking them to an undisclosed location, footage published on Thursday (7) showed.
An eyewitness said at least seven men were shot dead by troops for not complying with the soldiers’ orders fast enough, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
The men were reportedly rounded up from homes and schools sheltering displaced families in the northern Gaza Strip.
Diaa al-Kahlout, a journalist working for the Al Araby Al Jadeed, was identified amongst them.
The Euro-Mediterranean monitor said doctors, academics, journalists and seniors were among those detained.
Israeli troops on Thursday stormed the Khalifa Bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Aleppo schools in Beit Lahia after encircling them for days.
Footage taken by residents and reporters shows Israeli snipers taking position on rooftops of homes near the Khalifa school. Another video showed bodies of dead men reportedly strewn in the courtyards of the Aleppo school.
Middle East Eye could not independently verify the footage.
After forcing everyone out of the schools, Israeli soldiers arrested the men and let the women and children flee on foot.
They then went home to home in some neighbourhoods in Beit Lahia, removing residents before arresting the men and setting some homes ablaze, according to the Euro-Mediterranean monitor.
The Geneva-based group said the men were arrested arbitrarily and beaten by soldiers.
Footage published on Israeli Telegram pages and media showed dozens of men rounded up, with their clothes stripped off, their eyes covered and their hands tied.
Some videos showed them in a residential area before being loaded onto trucks. Another photo showed them lined up in an open sandy area.
It was not clear where they were taken to.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the mass arrests.
Some Israeli media said the men are “possible” Hamas operatives but no further details were provided.
Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, denied that there had been mass arrests of the group’s members and likened the arrests to “Nazi concentration camps”.
He told Al Araby TV the footage shows the “arrest and abuse of unarmed civilians who have nothing to do with military operations”.
– middleeasteye.net
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