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Ajith Sunghay, a U.N. human rights official in Gaza, told
reporters it was not clear exactly how many men had been
detained by Israel since it began its military operation in Gaza
in response to Hamas's Oct. 7 deadly attacks, but he said the
number ran into the thousands.
"These are men who were detained by the Israeli security forces
in unknown locations for between 30 to 55 days," Sunghay told
reporters in Geneva by video link from Gaza.
He said he had just met released detainees in the besieged
enclave. "There are reports of men who are subsequently
released, but only in diapers without any adequate clothing in
this cold weather," he added.
Israel's military and government spokespeople were not
immediately available for comment. The Israeli military
spokesperson's office has previously said its forces are
operating "to dismantle Hamas's military capabilities" and
rescue hostages captured by the Palestinian militant group.
Detainees were treated in accordance with international law, and
were often required to hand over clothes to ensure they were not
carrying weapons or explosives, the office has said.
Asked to elaborate on why some of the released detainees wore
diapers, Sunghay said: "So we're not exactly sure why they were
put in diapers and sent out but they were clearly visibly
shocked and even shaken when I met them."
Israeli TV broadcast footage in December of Palestinian men
stripped to their underwear in Gaza. The images that also
circulated on social media drew condemnation from Palestinian,
Arab and Muslim officials.
At the time, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said the
images showed "military-age men who were discovered in areas
that civilians were supposed to have evacuated weeks ago".
(Reporting by Emma Farge; additional reporting by and Gabrielle
Tetrault-Farber in Geneva and Henriette Chacar in Tel Aviv;
editing by Matthias Williams and Andrew Heavens)
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