A photograph of a blindfolded Palestinian detainee , bound and posed for the camera, has provoked outrage after it was circulated on social media by soldiers from an Israeli unit already notorious for abuses against Palestinians.
In the image, a Palestinian man is seen lying down on his stomach, without clothes, tied to a bed in a stress position, overlaid with Hebrew text that reads "good morning".
It was widely shared after Palestinian writer Tamer Qaddoumi posted it on X, attributing the kidnapping to soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion of the Israeli Kfir Brigade operating in the Gaza Strip. He said he was unable to identify the detainee, but believed the incident took place in northern Gaza.
Palestinian prisoner advocates say the image is not an aberration but part of a broader pattern.
"The image published by Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion is yet another manifestation of the systematic dehumanisation of Palestinian prisoners and detainees," the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said in a statement to The New Arab .
"It is not an isolated incident, but part of an entrenched pattern of abuse that has escalated dramatically since 7 October 2023." An infamous battalion The Netzah Yehuda Battalion , an all‑male, ultra‑Orthodox unit within the Kfir Brigade, was originally established to allow Haredi Jewish men to serve as combat soldiers while observing Halakha, or Jewish law.
Over the past decade, however, it has become infamous for its conduct towards Palestinians. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) has accused the unit of committing grave human rights violations "including shooting and killing unarmed civilians, torture, physical assault, beating, and sexual assault, in violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law."
One of the most high‑profile cases came in January 2022, when 78‑year‑old Palestinian‑American Omar Assad died after being detained by Netzah Yehuda soldiers at a makeshift checkpoint north of Ramallah.
Assad was reportedly handcuffed, gagged and left lying on the ground in cold weather for hours. A Palestinian autopsy later found that he died of a stress‑induced heart attack brought on by being manhandled.
The incident drew rare international attention, including from the US, but resulted only in disciplinary measures against a handful of officers rather than criminal prosecutions.
Earlier this year, in late March, its reservist battalion was suspended from operations in the West Bank after soldiers assaulted and detained a CNN news crew , an episode the army itself described as “inappropriate” and unacceptable. The suspension was temporary and limited, falling short of any outright ban on the unit’s operations.
For Palestinian prisoner advocates, the new Gaza image sits squarely within this record. "This image reflects the impunity with which Israeli forces continue to commit crimes against Palestinian detainees,” PPS said. “The international community must take immediate action to ensure accountability and end the ongoing violations against Palestinian prisoners." Israeli military continuing to operate in Gaza The incident comes despite Trump’s so-called Gaza plan formally envisioning a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the besieged strip. On the ground, however, troops continue to operate across large areas, particularly in the north.
An investigation by Al Jazeera using satellite imagery and open‑source data found that Israeli forces have expanded their control in northern Gaza from 67.3 sq km to 73.9 sq km - equivalent to about 54.7 percent of the northern part of the enclave.
Within those areas, Palestinian groups report a surge in arrests and disappearances.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, "thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, while thousands from Gaza have been forcibly disappeared, with many still held incommunicado. Testimonies documented by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reveal widespread torture, starvation, medical neglect, sexual abuse, and other grave violations inside Israeli detention facilities."
At the same time, Israeli military operations and bombings have continued despite the ceasefire signed on 10 October, killing more than 1,050 people since then.