Israeli soldiers mock Gaza women by dressing up in their abayas

New images have emerged on social media depicting Israeli soldiers dressed in clothes stolen from dead or displaced Palestinian women in Gaza.

The images, shared on X by the pro-Israeli army account "Torah IDF" on Monday, showed a group of seven soldiers dressed in traditional garments worn by women in Gaza known as abayas.

The soldiers can be seen grinning in the images as they pose holding their weapons and wearing combat clothes under the abayas.

The Torah IDF account said that the soldiers were marking Maimouna, a celebration held at the end of Passover by Jewish communities of North African origin.

תרבו ותסעדו.
לוחמינו חוגגים מימונה בעזה. pic.twitter.com/P0x2ZXJs2J

— תורת לחימה (@Torat_IDF) April 29, 2024

Last month, a similar image emerged of three Israeli soldiers wearing Palestinian women's clothes, including underwear.

Samiha Al-Ashqar a Palestinian from Gaza City, told The New Arab she felt "disgusted" when she saw the images being deliberately shared by Israeli soldiers.

"Such actions are not just a matter of joking or mocking Palestinians, but they aim to insult the dignity of Palestinian women and expose the secrets of homes by wearing such clothes," she said.

"It's as if they want to tell us that they occupied our land and our honour forever and that we will never return to our homes again."

Another displaced Palestinian woman, Rawaa Hassouna, said that the images were proof that Israel was targeting Palestinian civilians.

"It is clear that the war is not only against Hamas but against the entire Palestinian existence. They are carrying out acts of revenge against Palestinian society, especially Palestinian women who are raising [new] generations," she told The New Arab.

Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip has seen entire residential areas flattened and the majority of the enclave’s homes destroyed.

Over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and most of the enclave’s inhabitants have been displaced to Rafah in the south, which now faces invasion.

Many images have emerged showing Israeli soldiers mocking the dead and displaced victims of their campaign against Gaza by appropriating their personal and intimate possessions – such as women’s underwear - and posing for photographs.

Last February, 972 Magazine reported that looting of Palestinian property in Gaza by Israeli soldiers had become "completely routine".

I mean.. https://t.co/c9WKK6GjEL pic.twitter.com/Ydjx2pXCxv

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) February 20, 2024

Around the same time, journalist Younis Tirawi posted a picture of armed Israeli soldiers grinning as they posed on the bicycles of children who had fled or been killed as a result of the Israeli war.

This behaviour was widely condemned as "depraved".

Israel’s ferocious and indiscriminate war on Gaza has been marked by dehumanizing rhetoric towards Palestinians, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant saying Israel was fighting “human animals”.