Since December 7, images of Palestinians arrested and stripped naked in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have provoked widespread concern. Israeli authorities say they undressed the detainees as a security measure, but that photos of them in their underwear "serve nobody". The images have sparked debate on the legality of the IDF's arrest procedures. Human Rights Watch told FRANCE 24 that sharing humiliating images of prisoners can amount to a war crime.
Dozens, even hundreds of Palestinians detained in the street, kneeling and undressed, sometimes blindfolded: since early December, numerous videos and photos have documented these scenes of arrests by the IDF in the Gaza Strip.
The first images of these arrests began circulating on pro-Israeli Telegram accounts on December 7. Dozens of Palestinians, including several civilians and a journalist, were arrested.
Read moreGaza: What do we know about these images of Palestinians arrested by the IDF?
One video and one photo showed several dozen people arrested in their underwear, surrounded by Israeli soldiers. Other footage broadcast on December 7 showed groups of detainees who were stripped to their underwear being moved around in lorries, or kneeling and surrounded by soldiers in a sandy area.
Since then, new images of other groups of Palestinian detainees have been posted online, including one of dozens of men in their underwear standing on the pavement, shared on December 9.
On the evening of December 12, television channel N12 shared a photo of several hundred detainees surrounded by mounds of sand, without further details about its context.
While the origin of these images is unknown, there are indications that IDF soldiers filmed them. Most of the footage, in which only soldiers and detainees can be seen, was taken alongside Israeli soldiers or even in army vehicles. In addition, in one of the videos posted on December 7, the khaki green sleeve of the Israeli army uniform worn by the person filming is visible.
However, the Israeli army did not post these images directly on its official channels. On December 10, Israel's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, declared that the images "served nobody" and hoped that people would stop circulating them.
Detainees stripped for security reasons, according to the army
The IDF explained that these people were detained in this manner for security reasons.
“It is often necessary for terror suspects to hand over their clothes such that their clothes can be searched and to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry,” the army told AFP.
A war crime if Israel publishes the images?
Intentionally posting images of the degrading treatment of human beings can be considered a breach of international law, as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International explained to the FRANCE 24 Observers team.
"Filming detainees can sometimes be justified in certain situations," explains Ahmed Benchemsi, communications and advocacy director for the Middle East region at Human Rights Watch. "But it is the fact of posting these images that is a war crime, because it demonstrates the intention to humiliate and publicise the degrading treatment of human beings."
In a report that qualified Hamas's videos of Israeli hostages as possible war crimes, Human Rights Watch cites Article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention on civilians, "which applies to all parties to the armed conflict in Israel and Palestine, provides that everyone in the custody of a warring party 'shall in all circumstances be treated humanely.'"
"Both holding hostages and committing 'outrages upon personal dignity' of detainees are serious violations of international humanitarian law, or the laws of war," the NGO stressed.
The same point was made by Amnesty International's head of conflict programmes, Tchérina Jerolon, who added that Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention relating to prisoners of war "explicitly sets out the obligation to protect prisoners of war 'against all acts of violence or intimidation, insults and public curiosity".
"The notion of public curiosity implies that any information material that could identify detainees, such as photos or videos, is tantamount to subjecting them to public curiosity. The transmission, publication or posting of such material must therefore be avoided in order to comply with this convention."
An unofficial Telegram channel run by the Israeli army, according to Haaretz
Although the Israeli army did not post any of these images on its official accounts on X or on other platforms, the photos and videos began to appear on Telegram in the early afternoon of December 7 on several pro-Israeli accounts that regularly relay images of Israeli army operations.
These images were shared a few hours later by a Telegram channel called "72 Virgins - Uncensored". Israeli media outlet Haaretz revealed on December 12 that this channel serves as an unofficial Israeli army channel.
Quoting a senior army official, the newspaper said that the channel is run by the Israeli army's psychological operations department. However, the Israeli army denied these claims.
Detainees 'treated in accordance with international law'?
The IDF told several media outlets that the detainees were "treated in accordance with international law".
While several of the Palestinians arrested have since been released, others were still being held at the time of publication of this article on December 14, according to eyewitnesses. Like Diaa Al Kahlout, a journalist with the Arabic version of The New Arab, who was arrested on December 7. Reporters Without Borders demanded information about his detention in a message on X on December 11.
Since the end of the temporary ceasefire on December 1, the Israeli army has claimed to have arrested "around 140 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Gaza Strip", without specifying to what extent these people were arrested as part of the operations of the last few days.
According to Haaretz on December 10, the army estimated that 10% to 15% of those recently arrested were "linked to Hamas".
While many unknowns surround the fate of these detainees, Ahmed Benchemsi of Human Rights Watch stresses that they are all entitled to a certain number of legal protections: "The law of war states that people must be informed promptly of the reasons for their arrest. Furthermore, if a person remains under arrest and is not charged within 48 hours, he or she must be released."
He also points out that each detainee must also have the opportunity to challenge their detention. "If any of these rights are not respected, this may be considered illegal and a violation of the Rome Statute [of the International Criminal Court]."
