Al Jazeera has spoken to a Beit Lahia resident who provided details on the Palestinian men who were stripped to their underwear during their detention by Israeli forces.

The resident, who shared his account on the condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety, said the Israeli army stormed the neighbourhood at about 10am, ordering residents to come down from their buildings and surrender themselves.

The soldiers then ordered the women and children to go to Jabalia and Kamal Adwan Hospital. They also took the elderly men for interrogation inside an apartment, before telling them to follow the women.

“A neighbour of ours, a 58-year-old man, who was the director of a UNRWA school, they took him with the young men. They stripped them and took pictures, they tied them up. And they put them in their trucks and took them near the coastline,” the resident said.

The men were then lined up on the coastline and left in the cold for “14-15 hours”, according to the resident, who said some of those detained were interrogated and some were “beaten and insulted”.

Some of the detainees were then put in a truck and returned to Beit Lahia in the early morning hours, according to the resident.

Upon their return home, they found that at least seven houses had been burned, some houses were blown up and many families said their properties had been looted, the resident said. “Many are still in custody, we don’t know anything about them,” they added.