Israeli Forces Commit War Crimes by Publishing Degrading Images and Videos of Detained Palestinians

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement condemning Israeli forces for publishing degrading photographs and videos of detained Palestinians, including children, as a form of inhumane treatment and an outrage on their personal dignity amounting to war crimes. Since October, Israeli forces have reportedly detained thousands of Palestinians from Gaza at Sde Teiman, an army base in southern Israel, where they have been reportedly ill-treated and tortured, and where at least 36 died in custody. The organization has analyzed 37 posts depicting captured Palestinians, predominantly men and boys in Gaza and the West Bank, often stripped to their underwear and in some cases completely naked, handcuffed, blindfolded, and injured.

Key Takeaways:

• Human Rights Watch has documented 37 posts depicting captured Palestinians, including children, stripped to their underwear or completely naked, handcuffed, blindfolded, and injured.
• Since October, Israeli forces have reportedly detained thousands of Palestinians from Gaza at Sde Teiman, an army base in southern Israel, where at least 36 died in custody.
• The Israeli military has failed to publicly condemn the treatment of Palestinian detainees depicted in the images, and judicial authorities have not announced any prosecutions for these crimes.
• Israeli military officials have publicly denounced some of their members for publishing images of the detainees, but the government has not publicly condemned the underlying treatment.
• Human Rights Watch has noted that forced nudity followed by capturing and sharing sexualized images on social media is a form of sexual violence and also a war crime.
• The organization has called on senior officials and military commanders to be held criminally responsible for ordering these crimes, or for failing to prevent or punish them, including at the International Criminal Court.
• A separate investigation by the BBC found that Israeli soldiers uploaded to social media platforms dozens of images and videos intended to humiliate Palestinians, including images of detainees who had been stripped to their underwear and others who had been draped in Israeli flags.
• The Israeli military has instructed soldiers "to avoid uploading footage of operational activities to social media networks," but has not condemned any specific acts and has only suspended some soldiers from reserve duty.
• The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel concluded that the forced public stripping, nudity, and related "specific persecutory acts" against Palestinian men and boys in Israeli custody were either ordered or condoned by Israeli authorities.
• The commission has also noted that sexual violence and committing "outrages upon personal dignity" on detainees are serious violations of international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, applicable to all parties to the hostilities in Israel and Palestine.

Statistics:

• Since October, Israeli forces have reportedly detained thousands of Palestinians from Gaza at Sde Teiman, an army base in southern Israel.
• At least 36 Palestinians have died in custody at Sde Teiman.
• 124 Palestinians remain at Sde Teiman as of July.
• The Israeli military has reportedly ill-treated and tortured many detainees at Sde Teiman.
• Human Rights Watch has documented 37 posts depicting captured Palestinians, including children, stripped to their underwear or completely naked, handcuffed, blindfolded, and injured.
• Since October 25 and December 28, one Israeli soldier, who holds United States citizenship, has published at least seven photos and videos of Palestinian men detained by his unit in the West Bank.
• At least 815 civilians were killed in the October 7 Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups attack on southern Israel.
• 251 people were taken hostage in the attack.
• Gaza's Health Ministry has reported over 38,000 deaths and 88,000 injuries.

Sources:

• Human Rights Watch
• BBC
• Times of Israel
• Agence France-Presse
• United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
• International Criminal Court (ICC)