Gaza(Palestine Foundation Information Center)The Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza strongly condemned on Sunday evening the Israeli occupation forces’ use of Gaza civilians as Israeli propaganda material aimed at promoting false Zionist narratives and misleading public opinion.
The Office affirmed that the Israeli army forced one of the civilians who had been detained from shelters to perform a staged scene in which he handed over a weapon after they stripped him of his clothes. This act, which also included stripping dozens of other innocent civilians, constitutes a war crime and a violation of all international human rights conventions.
In detail, the GMO said in a statement that the Israeli occupation army circulated two contradictory videos. In one video, they stormed a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and evacuated all the boys and men from the school, all of whom were civilians.
The statement further explained that the Israeli occupation army forced them to undress and be fully exposed, and then they forced a citizen (M.Q.), the owner of a workshop in the Beit Lahia area (northern Gaza Strip), to perform a staged scene with a weapon.
The media office clarified that the citizen was forced in the first video to hold the weapon in his left hand, then he was asked to approach and hand over the weapon, placing it on the ground as if he were the owner of the weapon. In the second video, he was forced again to hold the weapon in his right hand, then he was asked to approach and hand over the weapon in the presence of more than one Israeli armored tank, confirming that it is a fabricated video and they failed to achieve their objectives behind it.
A series of ongoing crimes
The media office pointed out that the Israeli occupation army committed another crime a few days ago as part of its series of brutal crimes against the Palestinian people by arresting dozens of civilians in the Beit Lahia area, most of whom are doctors, engineers, journalists, and owners of respected positions in the Palestinian society.
It added that the heavily armed occupation soldiers forced these civilians, under gun threat, to undress upon their arrest, with their hands tied. They were then placed in trucks and transported while they were naked to the seaside after having their eyes blindfolded.
The statement stated that the captive civilians were left in the cold without clothes, and they remained in this humiliating situation until the early hours of the same night, which reflects all the meanings of Israeli hatred and revenge. After that, some of them were ordered to return to their homes, while others remained under arrest, subjected to torture and interrogation.
An attempt to mislead the public opinion
The media office confirmed that the occupation seeks to use these scenes to deceive public opinion through various media outlets in a manner that is only used by morally bankrupt criminal gangs. It also highlighted the arrest of civilians, forcing them to undress before interrogating them under torturous conditions.
The statement emphasized that the scenes presented by the Israeli occupation army confirm its blatant violation of human rights, its violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, as well as its violation of all international and global agreements.
International silence is a green light for continued violations
The statement called on the international community and all international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other international organizations, to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation to immediately and swiftly release all hostages and detainees held under circumstances that violate all international laws.
It stressed that the continued arrest of these civilians constitutes a clear approval and a green light for the occupation to continue violating international law, international humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention, and all international agreements.
