An Israeli soldier's photograph of a Palestinian man from Gaza stripped to his underwear, blindfolded and bound face-down to an iron rod has been widely shared on social media. Rights groups say the image corroborates extensive reporting on Israeli torture of Palestinians in detention and may itself constitute a war crime.
Oneg Ben Dror from Physicians for Human Rights Israel stated: 'Both abusive treatment of detainees and the public sharing of humiliating or degrading images of them can constitute war crimes.' She added that the photo 'confirms what thousands of testimonies from Palestinian detainees have exposed, and what we and other organisations have been reporting for nearly three years now. Israeli detention facilities are torture camps for Palestinians.'
The Israeli military confirmed the photo's authenticity but said the incident 'does not align with IDF values and regulations', adding that an inquiry is under way. Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, noted that holding and photographing the man semi-naked broke international law, calling it 'a form of sexual violence and also a war crime.'
Two mothers have claimed the bound man as their son. Rana Abu Nasser identified her son Osama, seized in March near the boundary of Israeli military control in Gaza. Joudeh al-Ghoul said she recognised her son Amin, missing since his arrest in November 2023. The Israeli military declined to comment on identification or whether the family had been notified.
Rights group HaMoked said that Israeli authorities had denied holding hundreds of missing Palestinians whose arrest was confirmed by witness testimony. For seven months at the start of the war, the military refused to provide basic information about detainees, implementing a policy of forced disappearance. From May 2024, an email address for enquiries provided only partial improvement.
