Several photos and videos of Israeli soldiers playing and posing in underwear found in abandoned Palestinian houses in Gaza have surfaced on social media, sparking global outrage.
A video circulating on social media showed a grinning Israeli soldier sitting in an armchair in the room, holding a gun in one hand. He was seen using his other hand to dangle a white woman’s underwear from his open mouth on the couch, Reuters reported.
In another video, a soldier sits on a tap holding a female mannequin wearing a black bra and helmet and is heard saying: “I found a beautiful wife in Gaza with serious relationship, great woman.”
According to Reuters, Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi retweeted the pictures and videos of the underwear and mannequins, which have been viewed tens of thousands of times.
In one photo, a soldier poses with a gun and gives a thumbs up in front of a bed piled with women’s lingerie.
Another photo showed a soldier holding a naked female model from behind, with his hands on the model’s breasts, while another soldier caressed a half-naked doll.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said images and videos of such Israeli soldiers’ behavior “insult Palestinian women and all women.”
“Publishing such images is an insult to Palestinian women and to all women,” she was quoted as saying by Reuters.
In response, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the military expects soldiers to abide by orders and values, and will investigate incidents that violate the rules, as well as videos and photos uploaded on social media.
“If a criminal offense is suspected and an investigation is required, the investigation is carried out by the military police,” it said in a statement.
“To clarify, in some of the cases reviewed, it was concluded that the soldier’s expression or behavior in the video was inappropriate and dealt with accordingly,” the statement added.
However, the IDF did not specify whether it was referring to the images and photos of Israeli soldiers that went viral online, or whether it had taken any action against Israeli troops.
The development comes as Israel and Hamas have been locked in a war since October 7 last year and have been accused of war crimes. Earlier this month, a United Nations panel of experts said there were reasonable grounds to believe sexual violence occurred at multiple locations during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Experts also say there is compelling information that some Israeli women held hostage by Hamas in Gaza were raped or gang-raped.
Meanwhile, YouTube said it removed a video flagged by Reuters for violating the platform’s harassment policy, adding that the video prohibits content that reveals personally identifiable information.
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