The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have reportedly captured more than a hundred alleged Hamas fighters, new video has shown.
In a clip shared by Channel 13 reporter Almog Biker, the purported Hamas militants can be seen sitting down in the middle of a street.
The majority of the men pictured was shown nearly naked bar the underclothes, several of them holding their heads with their hands.
Boker captioned the video: “Extraordinary and dramatic documentation from Gaza: more than a hundred terrorists captured by IDF fighters.
“Some of them turned themselves in. were transferred to the Shin Bet investigation.”
The IDF claimed the group was part of a contingent of Hamas militants who surrendered in the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip.
However, residents have rejected the allegations and claimed Israeli forces had rounded up Palestinian civilians before removing them. Daily Express could not independently verify these claims.
The southern city has been at the centre of recent fights between Israeli forces and the extremist group, and is the target of multiple air raids.
The alleged mass surrender came after multiple casualties were reported in the area following a strike on a residential building.
Two months into the war, Israel’s offensive into southern Gaza was bringing to Khan Younis the same fierce urban fighting and intensified bombardment that obliterated much of Gaza City and the north of the territory in recent weeks.
But in the south, the areas where Palestinians can seek safety are rapidly shrinking.
Ahead of the assault, Israel urged residents to evacuate Khan Younis, the childhood home of two top Hamas leaders.
But much of the city’s population remains in place, along with large numbers who were displaced from northern Gaza and are unable to leave or wary of fleeing to the disastrously overcrowded far south.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 16,200 people in Gaza — most of them women and children — and wounded more than 42,000, the territory’s Health Ministry said late Tuesday. The agency has said many are also trapped under rubble.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
Israel has vowed to fight on, saying it can no longer accept Hamas rule or the group’s military presence in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took captive some 240 people in that attack – 136 of whom still remain in Gaza.
