Fact or fiction: Is Israel really rounding up ‘Hamas fighters’?

Over the past few days, photos and videos of Palestinian men and boys stripped, lined up and taken away in trucks by the Israeli army have been circulating on social media.

Israel has claimed that these are suspected Hamas fighters that it has rounded up in northern Gaza. It has even published photos and a video of a Palestinian man in his underwear walking past a row of stripped men and boys holding their ID cards, and laying a gun by the side of the road as “evidence” that these are indeed “militants”.

But a closer look at this video reveals that it was staged. It makes no sense that the Israeli soldiers, upon discovering an armed fighter, would wait to strip and line up everyone, prepare to take a video and then order that person to surrender his weapon through a loudspeaker, calling him “habibi” (my dear in Arabic).

Media reports later revealed that the Israeli army had forcibly taken the Palestinian men and boys after separating them from their families in United Nations-run schools which serve as shelters for the displaced in northern Gaza. Some of the men have been identified as UN workers, aid workers and at least one journalist. The man who was made to hold the gun is believed to be a shopkeeper.

While the video stunt with the gun may be another desperate attempt by the Israeli army to cover up its crimes before Western audiences, the release of the images and footage showing the humiliation of Palestinian men and boys serves another purpose.

It aims to demoralise Palestinians while boosting the morale of the Israeli public. It is a clear reflection of the ideology of occupation, where Palestinians are seen as a people to be subdued and dominated, if not mercilessly killed.

The release of these images and footage comes amid a growing number of reports that the Israeli army is systematically separating Palestinian boys and men from their families in areas they control in Gaza and dragging them away to unknown locations.

Those who have been released have described torture and beatings at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The fate of many remains unknown, but given the deaths of at least six Palestinian prisoners and reports of widespread torture and other ill-treatment, there is a high chance they will face abuse as well.

The videos and images circulating on social media have helped journalists and activists identify some of the detained, disproving Israeli claims that these are Hamas fighters.