‘Deeply Disturbing’: State Department Says of Images of Palestinian Prisoners Stripped and Blindfolded

The State Department responded to images that have surfaced showing Palestinian prisoners that have been stripped and blindfolded.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller responded to a question from a reporter regarding photos that were released last week depicting Palestinian prisoners who had been detained by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). They had been stripped of their clothing and blindfolded.

Critics of the photos have labeled the treatment of the prisoners as inhumane, while Israeli officials explained the prisoners had been stripped in order to "rule out the possibility that they were carrying weapons."

"Those images were, we found those images deeply disturbing and we are seeking more information both about the nature of the images and of course, why they are public in the first place," Miller said.

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Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy told CNN the men in the photos were "suspected terrorists" and explained that not all Hamas terrorists wore uniforms identifying themselves.

"The people we're seeing in these images are all suspected terrorists," Levy told the outlet. "We wish that all Hamas fighters were wearing uniforms that clearly said Hamas on their helmets because that would make them easier to identify them. But when Hamas [members] dress up as civilians and fight within civilian areas, they make it very difficult to find them."

Under Article 13 of the Geneva Convention , prisoners of war are to be "protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity."

A group of former Palestinian prisoners, including young men and the elderly who had been detained, claimed that they had been separated from the women and instructed to leave their homes and come outside naked, and were tortured, Al Jazeera reported .

"They barged into our home," Mohammed Saleem, a former prisoner, told the outlet. "We told them that we are civilians. They started barbarically attacking and shooting around the house. They told us to come out one by one naked. They took us to an unknown house. The women were taken to another unknown place."

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The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed many of the Palestinian prisoners detained were later released after they were not identified as Hamas terrorists.