A former British Army major general has condemned the actions of the IDF after footage emerged appearing to show Israeli forces detaining dozens of Palestinian men in northern Gaza – with some stripped to their underwear.
Yesterday, footage widely shared on social media showed those held lined up in rows. Some appeared to have their hands tied behind their backs.
Itay Blumenthal, military correspondent for Israel’s Kan News, later reported that Israeli troops detained the men before checking if any of them were members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Sky News cannot independently verify when the images were taken.
Responding to the images, Charlie Herbert, a former British Army major general who served in Afghanistan, has said there were two types of people in this world – “those who find these images entirely justified and acceptable and those who find them really quite uncomfortable”.
“If you’re in the former, unfollow me now,” he said in a post on X.
‘Hamas must go’
Explaining his position further, he wrote: “What Hamas did on 7 October was barbaric, murderous, abhorrent. Utterly sickening.
“All involved deserve a special place in hell, and a fast-track route there. I think every rational person feels much the same. Hamas must go.
“But holding all 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip responsible for 7 October, making them accountable for what happened, and collectively punishing them strips Israeli politicians of any moral superiority, and effectively reduces them to the level of Hamas.
“And when this doctrine of collective punishment is allowed to penetrate into the ranks of the IDF the outcome can only be disastrous for a campaign where the human terrain is the vital ground. Think about that.”
Warning about ‘losing moral high ground’
The former army major general went on to say he was “simply cautioning about what happens when nations and their militaries do lose the moral high ground”.
He said he did not question the need for visual checks for suicide vests but added “in 34 years of quite challenging infantry soldiering I’ve never once seen scenes like those in the IDF photos. Not once”.
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