In mid-October, a startling photograph appeared online out of northern Gaza.
It showed dozens of Palestinian men stripped to their underwear and sitting or squatting in a street surrounded by ruins in the north of the enclave.
WARNING Some readers might find details of this story disturbing
The photo was taken during Israel's intense and deadly siege of the town of Jabalia and its surrounds, and it quickly spread around the world, and added further fuel to arguments Israel was forcing tens of thousands out of the area never to return.
The ABC has tracked down one of the men pictured among the destruction, who has shared what happened that day when he was separated from his family by the Israeli military.
Locals are generally scared to speak out against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), because they are worried they will be targeted in future strikes, if identified.
Another five residents of Jabalia, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have also shared their harrowing stories of what happened when they were forced out of the area.
Here is what they told us.
It was time to leave but there was no 'safe space'
Ahmad Mahmoud Ka'karany loves northern Gaza.
Before the war between Hamas and Israel, he had been offered many jobs in the south — but never wanted to leave.
The 65-year-old is a former employee of the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted from power in Gaza by Hamas in 2007, and was an officer in the Palestinian Presidential Guard before retiring around the same time.
The war, now stretching into its second year, has cost him his home and his community.
Along with his family, he was forced to take shelter in the crowded Jabalia refugee camp.
Sitting just north of Jabalia, it is the largest camp in the Palestinian territory and is home to hundreds of thousands of people.
"When you go down to the market, there was no room to walk. It was completely overpopulated," he said.
"There's no safe place in Gaza, from Rafah to Beit Hanoun there's not a single safe inch.
"Whoever tells you about safe areas, safe places, these are all lies and just distractions."
After days of bombing in the area, Ahmad said he started to fear his family's refuge would be next.
"The darkness has come and its torment befallen too," he said.
Along with a neighbour, he decided to walk to a nearby school to seek more information.
There, they met a man who said locals were being told to evacuate.
"He said there was actually a quadcopter [drone] above us when the young man informed us to leave," Ahmad recalled.
"So, we thought it means this guy that [Israel] sent was their delegate, and the quadcopter is sent to protect him, so no-one attacks him."
'The Day of Judgement'
Ahmad went back to his family, and they grabbed what they could.
"The streets were destroyed and there is no transportation," he said.
"We only managed to take the clothes we had on, everyone managed to carry one change of clothes in their hands."
They walked and walked, until they reached a "club".
"It was like the Day of Judgement, all the nations of God were in the area," he said.
"We said God helps us, we have just left, and there is no way to return at all."
Women and children were separated from the men, who were told to strip down to their underwear.
"Some may criticise me for this, but I respected them for doing this thing," Ahmad said.
"Although this is the Israeli army, I respected them for doing this thing.
"OK, it humiliated me, as an Israeli soldier he humiliated me when he took off my clothes and sat me naked in front of him, but I feel he wanted to humiliate us away from our wives and children."
They sat or squatted in the sun for hours.
"When I looked at soldiers, the oldest was around 20 years old, or 19 years old, and we were old men thrown in the streets," he said.
"If anyone wanted to stand, a soldier would stand and shoot, so everyone sits. If anyone moves, they would shoot above our heads, so everyone sits."
Ahmad said he was not detained and that Israeli forces took the Palestinian men that they wanted, after photographing and recording all of the men's identities.
He said the physical fatigue from the ordeal soon passed, but the mental strain stayed with him.
"The evacuation was full of oppression, you're leaving against your will, you are leaving something you wanted to keep," he recalled.
"Also, the humiliation was hard — the thing that affected me the most was the stripping issue, this affected me.
"I'm telling you frankly, I mean, I didn't even know it was photographed."
He said his single dream now is for all this to end.
"I long to hear just one thing: the war is over, that's it."
Waking up to evacuation orders and chaos on the streets
As the sun rises over Gaza, the buzz of drones hovering outside houses stirs weary locals from their restless sleep.
Speakers built into the flying quadcopters, as they are known, start blaring warnings from Israeli troops.
The message is clear: leave, and leave now.
Sara said sleepless nights in northern Gaza were now the norm.?
"There was heavy shooting, and missiles, and very heavy bombing," the 15-year-old said.?
"They say we will be safe when the morning comes, but we did not know what morning will bring to us.?
"We woke up at 6:13am to the sounds of loudspeakers of the quadcopters calling on us in this neighbourhood to leave."?
Sara and her family gathered their belongings and stepped out into the street, which had erupted into chaos.
"Children were crying, and screaming," she said.
"People were carrying the elderly on their shoulders, those who did not have wheelchairs.
"The streets were all dusty and full of sand — you cannot even walk properly there, and it was harder for wheelchairs of course."
The IDF has repeatedly said it issues evacuation orders for areas about to be struck, insisting it gives Palestinians sufficient warning to leave.
Another resident, Faiza, did not know where to go, after hearing the warnings to evacuate.
"The Israelis didn't clarify, at all," the 56-year-old said.
"So we headed towards Beit Lahia. In Beit Lahia, the planes started shooting at us, and throwing missiles — they made us go back from where we left.
"Then they told us to go to Kamal Adwan Hospital, and go along the Sheikh Zayed Road.
"We took Shiekh Zayed Road, and then people started to tell us: 'return, it is not safe there, bodies are all over the place, and the Israelis are killing everyone'."?
Digging ominous holes?
Yousef, 29, said many thousands of residents of Jabalia ended up at two schools in Sheikh Zayed, an area to the north-east of their homes.?
"They told us that men should go to one school and women to another," he recalled.?
"When we arrived at our school, they started digging a big hole with bulldozers."
That's when things turned sinister. Yousef said some men were told to get in the hole.
"People were pushing each other, while we stayed where we were in the school yard," he said.
"We did not know what was happening inside the hole, and how they were letting people out, of if they are not letting them out."
Faiza and Sara also witnessed this before the women were separated from the men.?
Hamdi watched on.
"Hundreds of men were put inside holes, waiting to head towards the cameras, where soldiers were cursing at us, and humiliating us," the 67-year-old said.?
"Many young men were arrested, forced to undress fully, and were dressed in white overalls.
"They were then blindfolded and photographed in the yard in front of the citizens who were in the holes and the school to intimidate them."?
Hala, 18, was among the women sent to the separate school.?
"We bid farewell to our men and took the things from them, and we did not know when will we see them again," she said.
The long walk
Faiza said women and children waited in the other school for two hours.
"[The IDF] started throwing water, diapers at us," she said.
"You try to kill us, and displace us, yet you are throwing trivial things for us!
"We did not move, we told everybody not to drink, do not do anything because there were no toilets, and we need to walk a very long walk if we want to go to toilets."?
The women were then told to walk. And to keep walking, away from the school in Sheikh Zayed where they had been corralled by IDF troops.
"The road was so dusty, the tanks were everywhere, and Israelis were on both sides of the road," Faiza said.
"We could not turn to either side, if you dropped something, you could not pick it up out of fear."
Anyone who tried to rest was shot at, according to Hala.
"We threw half of our things away while we were walking because we could not carry them anymore," she said.
Faiza described the desperation and despair of others walking with them.
"There were two women who had thrown their old mother to the side of the road," she said.
"The woman was dying, and one of her daughters shouted 'mum, forgive us that we throw you mum, and they kept walking.?
"God have mercy on them!"?
Arriving in Gaza City, exhausted and anxious
As thousands continued to walk under the blazing sun, they arrived at another place where the IDF had dug holes in the ground.
Faiza was among the women who were told to get in.
"My daughter started to ask me — 'will they kill us mum?'"?
"I told her 'no dear, sleep on my leg,' and so she slept over my leg, and we all slept on the ground.?
After being held there for some time, they were directed to move once more.?
In groups of five, the women lined up in front of IDF personnel where they were searched and photographed.?
"The Israelis were taking scans of our eyes," Faiza said.?
"Those women whose veils were over their eyes were told to lift them up, so their eyes could be scanned.?
"Those who were wearing caps, were told to take them off."?
Faiza was then separated from her children.?
"We walked and waited for our children, then walked some more and waited until they arrive," she recounted.?
"We walked so long, it was so tiring — I have diabetes and high blood pressure, it was so sunny and tiresome for someone with diabetes and high blood pressure.
"The sun was hitting my head. I felt dizzy, and I did not have anything sweet or sugary to eat.
"I needed to drink water, but I was afraid to drink since there were no toilets."
It was around 4pm when Faiza, along with the many other women and children, made it to Gaza City — and to relative safety.
They were welcomed by other Palestinians, who greeted them with water and food.
"We were so tired we could hardly eat," Faiza said.
"Some brought us bread with some za'atar — they told us to eat something, even if just a bite of this bread.
"We sat for a while, then those who have relatives started calling them.
"Fouad brought me five bars of sweets so that my sugar will be balanced since I felt I would fall, I could not stand.
"I was shaking and shaking so much — when I ate the sweets, I was better, thank god."
The journey is seared into Hala's memory.
"The road was difficult and horrifying," she said.
"We've seen death, we've seen things that we never thought we will ever see."?
The men left behind
Youssef was among those still held at the school in Sheikh Zayed.?
He said some of the men were stripped, dressed in white jumpsuits, and blindfolded as they were taken away.?
Hours later, they lined up to have their photos taken by the IDF.?
About 100 men, Youssef said, were cleared to leave. They then started their own long walk.
"An Israeli soldier gave two white flags to two of the men," he said.?
"He told one to hold it and remain at the front of the line, and the other to remain at the back of the queue.
"Those who would trespass the one in the front with the white flag will be shot, and those will go behind the one in the back with the white flag will be shot too."
Then Youssef said they started their slow march south towards Gaza City, with 50 to 100 tanks watching their every move.
The IDF has released photos and video of lines of people leaving Jabalia, which appear to verify this account.
"The soldiers only gave us a bottle of water — not one for each man, so we shared it so everyone could drink," he said.
"The strange thing is that all soldiers were speaking Arabic.
"We did not know anything about the men they took — we only saw them dressed in white and blindfolded.
"But we could not know where they were taken, if they interrogated them or not, we knew nothing about them."
Youssef said between 100 and 150 men were taken away.?
Waiting for a reunion
After a long day of travel, Faiza was still struggling to walk.
Help was at hand from some of the residents in Gaza.
"They brought a donkey cart that we climbed in," she said.
"That shook us all over, although we had been through enough already.
"But this is what was available, so thank God for everything, that we were back safe.
"Men started to return too, and we are waiting for the rest to join us.
"Homes were bombed, but it is ok — we do not want the clothes too, we do not want anything, we only want to men to come back to us safely if God wills it.
"All of them, I pray they come back unharmed."?
The Israeli response
The IDF said it was "committed to dismantling the military capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organisation", and accused the group of hiding its people and operations among civilians.
The ABC asked the IDF a series of questions about the claims made by Palestinians forced to evacuate Jabalia.
The IDF did not provide specific responses to questions regarding its use of earthmoving equipment, retinal scans and photography.
It did respond to questions regarding gender segregation, and the treatment and detention of Palestinians — but did not provide details about how many men had been detained and released during that specific operation.
"During the IDF's operations in combat zones, individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities are detained and interrogated," it said in a statement.
"Those found not to be involved in terrorism are released, as was the case here.
"Detainees are treated in accordance with international law."
It said searches of Palestinians suspected of involvement with Hamas was standard practice.
"Where needed, IDF ground forces take appropriate security measures to ensure their safety, including searches," it said in a statement.
"In some cases, detainees are required to remove clothing to check for concealed explosives or other weapons. According to IDF protocols, detainees are given their clothing back or provided with alternative clothing as soon as possible after the search.
"All soldiers are required to treat detainees with respect. Any instances where protocol was not followed are investigated."
The IDF said its activity around Jabalia, and the refugee camp, had been prompted by intelligence Hamas was using medical facilities including the Kamal Adwan Hospital as hideouts and operations centres.
