US official: Israel has said it shouldn’t have aired photos of stripped Gazans, will change course

WASHINGTON — Israel has informed US President Joe Biden’s administration that photographs published over the past week of Palestinian men stripped down to their underwear after being detained by the IDF in Gaza for suspected Hamas ties should not have been taken or disseminated, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller says.

The Israelis “made it clear going forward that that will not be their practice, and that if they do conduct searches of detainees, they will give them their clothes back immediately,” Miller says during a briefing.

Hundreds of young and old Palestinian men were seen in these pictures and videos, which Israel has said were not formally disseminated by the IDF but that those arrested included surrendering Hamas fighters.

Miller acknowledges Israel’s security concerns for initially ordering Palestinians to strip, pointing to the history of Palestinian suicide attacks against Israel using concealed explosive belts. However, “the important thing is that they immediately return their clothes to them and that they behave in a way that’s consistent with the humane treatment of detainees,” he says.