Israeli media carried new pictures yesterday of troops posing with handcuffed Palestinian prisoners, two days after a former soldier caused uproar for posting such images on Facebook.

“It has become the norm for soldiers to take such pictures,” not the exception, Yehuda Shaul, of the rights group Breaking the Silence which initially distributed the controversial pictures, said.

On Monday, Israeli public television broadcast pictures of ex-soldier Eden Abargil, which she had posted on the social networking site Facebook, posing smirking next to three blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian soldiers.

The army denounced the photographs as “shameful,” while the Palestinian Authority expressed outrage, describing them as humiliating.

One of the latest pictures, also posted on Facebook, shows a group of soldiers surrounding a young, kneeling female prisoner, while another shows a soldier posing next to a wounded Palestinian.

A third shows a soldier posing next to a blindfolded and cuffed prisoner.

“It is amazing that these pictures shocked people in Israel itself, where many worse things happen” during the arrest and interrogation of prisoners, said Ms Shaul.

For years his organisation has been collecting testimony from soldiers who have served in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, as part of its anti-occupation campaign.

Eden Abargil told local media she could not understand why her posting the pictures in a Facebook album called “The army – the best time of my life” was denounced by the military.

Israeli military spokesman Captain Barak Raz called the images “repulsive photos, shameful photos, photos that the IDF (Israel Defence Force) strongly condemns.”

Ms Abargil was stung by the army’s reaction.

“What really upsets me is the IDF’s response,” she told the Tel Aviv daily Yediot Aharonot on Tuesday. “Is this how they treat a soldier who gave her soul to the army?”