Video of Israeli soldiers sitting on a couch, eating, and smoking hookah in a living room, while several detainees are handcuffed and blindfolded on the ground circulated on social media and captioned, “Israeli soldiers relax in Gaza after a day of heavy fighting and an operation in which they detained dozens of Hamas terrorists.”
Kashif Observatory verified the claim and found it to be wrong. The video was shot in Jenin, and the men seen in it are civilians, the majority of them were released the next day. Kashif’s Israeli affairs team translated the soldiers’ conversation: “I didn’t imagine Jenin to be like this, what can I say, show them what we have here, teddy bear’s chips. What do you wish for us Izmer? To shower? What do you wish for? To relax on Gaza’s beach.”
According to testimonies of the released handcuffed men in the video, the video was taken in Jenin refugee camp, on the second day of the invasion on 13 December 2023 inside the house of Abu Raafat Al-Ghoul opposite the Martyrs cemetery in the camp.
Amr Tawabsheh, one of the arrested men in the video, told Kashif that the Israeli army arrested him on Wednesday, 13 December 2023 from his house in the Al-Sikkah neighborhood in Jenin, where he was dragged to Abu Raafat’s house, and later to AlJalameh military camp, and released the next day. Tawabsheh added that during the arrest in the house, they were beaten, assaulted, and humiliated, then weren’t allowed to sleep, talk, or eat.
Muhannad AbdelRahman Noah also confirmed Tawabsheh’s story, and confirmed that the Israeli army arrested him from Al-Gharbieh neighborhood in the refugee camp on 12 December 2023, and dragged him from a house to another, and later to Abu Raafat’s house – which the Israeli soldiers turned to a field investigation center-. The Israeli soldiers danced, and sang all night long and assaulted the detainees, and forbade them from sleeping or sitting. Then they were taken while blindfolded to Al-Jalameh military camp and later to Salim military camp, and released the next day at 6 PM.
Muhannad Amer, who also appeared in the video, said that the Israeli army arrested him from his home near the UN School for Girls in Jenin on Wednesday, 13 December 2023, and took him to the house of Abu Raafat, and assaulted the detainees, and prevented them from sitting, or drinking water, then later were taken to Al-Jalameh military camp and then to Salim. They were left for long hours in the rain without being allowed to sit down, and then they were released the next day.
The Israeli occupation army invaded the city of Jenin on Tuesday, 12 December 2023, in a military operation that lasted for three days, in which 12 Palestinians were killed and 7 were wounded, while imposing a complete siege on the Jenin refugee camp and Jenin’s hospitals, in addition to obstructing the work of medical crews. The Israeli occupation army arrested hundreds of young men, a large number of whom were released after being subjected to abuse and field investigation.
| Source of verification | Source of claim |
| وكالة الانباء والمعلومات الفلسطينية – وفا –WAFA News Agency قناة الجزيرة – Aljazeera danielamram3 Testimonies of released detainees (Amr Tawabsha / Mahdi Abdel Rahman Nouh / Muhannad Amer) The video translation from Hebrew | @visegrad24 @EkpaKanu @alexcmhwee @KazAnneAbraham |