Dozens of Palestinian men including journalist captured and stripped in Gaza | World News

Videos of blindfolded men stripped to their underwear have been circulating on social media in the last few hours amid Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.

Israeli TV showed the footage of what it claimed were captured Hamas fighters in Gaza City. 

The mostly young Palestinians can be seen sitting on the ground with their heads bowed and hands tied behind their back.

In one clip, a group of them are being transported in the back of an Israeli military vehicle.

Diaa Al-Kahlot, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed correspondent in the north of the territory, is said to be among those detained on Thursday morning.

The outlet lost contact with the journalist in the afternoon, before it later learnt of his arrest from his family. 

Editor-in-chief Hossam Kanafani said Israeli forces deliberately ‘arrest, target and assassinate journalists’ with the aim of preventing them from documenting their crimes in Gaza.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also said it was are ‘deeply concerned’ by reports of the arrest of the correspondent with his family members.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed is one of the very few pan-Arab news outlets that still have a physical presence in northern Gaza.

Some Palestinians abroad also recognised relatives in the videos and pictures and denied they had any links to Hamas or any other group.

Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian-American based in the US state of Virginia saw his relatives in the picture and stressed that they were ‘innocent civilians with no links to Hamas or any other faction.’

He said: ‘They took them from a house, that belongs to the family, in the area of the market.

‘They detained my brother Mahmoud, 32, his son Omar, 13, my nephew Aboud, 27, and my father 72, and several of our in-laws.’

Metro.co.uk could not independently verify the videos and pictures being shared, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are yet to comment on the mass arrests.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed troops were fighting against militants in Hamas’ ‘centers of gravity’.

He said: ‘During this fighting, those who stay in the area, come out of tunnels and some out of houses, we investigate and check who is linked to Hamas and who is not, we detain and interrogate all of them.’

Hagari did not address the images but said hundreds of suspected militants have been interrogated so far and that many have surrendered in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said the IDF detained and severely abused dozens of Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza.

Soldiers surrounded two shelter centres in the town of Beit Lahia for days before beating the men and stripping them of their clothes.

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