Palestinian suspects are detained by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, in a handout image published by the IDF on December 11, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces.)
The IDF and Shin Bet say forces have arrested more than 500 terror operatives in the Gaza Strip in the last month. They have been taken for questioning by the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 and the security agency.
According to the joint statement, more than 140 of the operatives were arrested since the ceasefire ended on December 1.
“The operatives were detained during battles in recent days by IDF troops. Some of them voluntarily surrendered and were taken by the field interrogators… for further investigation,” the IDF says.
The IDF says some of the operatives were arrested while hiding in civilian buildings, including schools and shelters for civilians.
It says that of the 500 operatives detained in the last month, some 350 of them are members of Hamas, and another 120 are members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The military issues photos of suspects detained in the Strip. Unlike other recent photos to come out of Gaza, the suspects in the photos are fully clothed. Yesterday both National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari criticized the dissemination of photographs showing arrested terror suspects stripped to their underpants after they were searched for explosives, and vowed to stop the dissemination of such images.
Palestinian suspects are detained by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, in a handout image published by the IDF on December 11, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces.)
