In an unprecedented incident that has sparked widespread Palestinian outrage, the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” reported on Monday that two armed Israeli female soldiers, part of a 50-soldier military force, compelled five Palestinian women to undress inside their own home after raiding it in the southern district of Hebron city. The incident occurred on July 10th, around 1:30 am, where the women were threatened with police dogs. In front of their children, the women were forced to undress while the soldiers allegedly stole gold jewelry and money from the house.
The family reported the incident to an Israeli police station in the “Kiryat Arba” settlement, which initially denied the theft. However, the following day, they were contacted to retrieve the gold, which soldiers mistakenly thought was bullet ammunition. The money was never returned.
Manal Al-Jaabari, a human rights activist with the Israeli left-wing organization B’Tselem, stated that there has been a noticeable increase in such incidents, with 20 similar cases documented recently. The Israeli military claimed the operation aimed to search for weapons found in the house, asserting that the search was conducted in a separate room without any cameras.
The revelation has ignited Palestinian anger and threats of retaliation. Various Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah, have condemned the incident and warned of consequences.