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Torture and Sexual Abuse of Detainees

Israeli War Crimes

Despite the Israeli army's denial and insistence that detainees are "handled in accordance with international law," Palestinians held by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip have endured severe instances of torture. Israeli authorities are carrying out grave violations and using brutal force against Palestinian detainees in a way that can only be described as a campaign of vengeance against all Palestinian prisoners.

Torture of Palestinian Detainees

Reportedly, a number of Palestinian detainees who were recently released have recounted instances of abuse and collective punishment inflicted by guards in the aftermath of the Gaza conflict. These individuals shared accounts of being subjected to physical assaults involving sticks, being targeted by muzzled dogs, and having their personal belongings, including clothing, food, and blankets, confiscated. Additionally, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said that certain guards purportedly engaged in the act of urinating on handcuffed prisoners.

In addition to physical assaults, Palestinians also reportedly endure incidents of sexual abuse. Abdallah Zughary, the Palestinian president of the Prisoners' Club which is a non-governmental organization that was established in 1993 to support political prisoners in Israeli occupation jails, has shared distressing accounts of abuse against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, stating, "Israel is able to commit its crimes without consequence, and as a result, we have no doubt that sexual assault occurs within the prisons. Some of the recently released prisoners have already spoken out about this". Zughary further explains that Palestinian women detainees, many of whom adhere to the Islamic Hijab, are compelled to undress in front of troops under the guise of being searched. Moreover, within the prisons, these female prisoners are coerced into removing their clothing and are forced to wear lighter garments that do not align with the Islamic dress code.

Other punitive measures against Palestinian detainees include cutting off electricity and water, shutting down the canteen, providing poor quality and quantity of food, closing clinics in the prisons, and preventing the transfer of sick prisoners to external clinics and hospitals, according to Addameer.

And according to Amnesty, On 31 October, the Israeli authorities extended by one month the “state of emergency in prisons” which grants Israel’s National Security Minister virtually unrestrained powers to deny sentenced prisoners access to visits by lawyers and family members; to hold detainees in overcrowded cells; to deny them outdoor exercise and to impose cruel collective punishment measures such as cutting off water and electricity for long hours, effectively allowing for the intensification of cruel and inhuman treatment of detainees, in violation of the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. Since October 7th, the International Committee of the Red Cross has verified that Palestinian prisoners have been deprived of communication with both their families and legal representatives.

Hassan Abadi, a Palestinian lawyer, has been visiting a minimum of four detainees per week since October 7th. He informed Amnesty International that those in Palestinian detention have had all their personal possessions seized and sometimes destroyed, including books, diaries, letters, clothing, food, and various other items. Moreover, female Palestinian prisoners at al-Damon prison have had their sanitary pads taken away by prison authorities. According to Abadi, one of his clients recounted being detained and blindfolded at Kiryat Arba police station near Hebron, where an officer threatened her with rape.

The Torture of detainees does not even start after they take them to prison as can be seen in the video it can even start from where they begin detainee.

On 7 December 2023, images circulated of dozens of Palestinians, blindfolded, stripped of their clothes, and forced to kneel, as they were being detained and transported to an undisclosed location by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the Gaza Strip.

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The army has faced international criticism after viral footage of detainees stripped down to their underwear and blindfolded with their hands tied behind the back.

IDF soldiers filmed themselves as they abused seven West Bank laborers who were caught as they attempted to enter Israel without a permit, in an area south of the South Hebron hills

 

Testimonials of Some Palestinian Detainees

But all that we have showed is still not the true extent of this war crime. Testimonials from detainees reveal even more distributing facts about how they are treated in Israeli prisons.

Nayef Ali, aged 22, recounted his experience of being arrested in the eastern Zaitun suburb of Gaza City and subsequently transferred to an Israeli detention facility. He displayed cuts on his wrists and other parts of his body as evidence. According to Ali, the Israeli troops bound their hands behind their backs for two consecutive days, depriving them of food, water, and access to restroom facilities. He further disclosed that the detainees were confined to an area near the Israeli border, subjected to freezing temperatures. Ali described how cold water was thrown on them before they were transferred to a prison, where the mistreatment and physical abuse persisted.

Khamis al-Bardini, 55, also alleged torture by Israeli soldiers, saying they poured "cold water on our heads through the night" along with "beatings during the day".

Salah Fateen Salah, a 23 year old former prisoner who was released from Gilboa on October 24 after five years in prison, explained to Al Jazeera some of the instances he saw during this period explaining:

“They shouted through the speakers telling all the prisoners to get inside their rooms, kneel down on their knees, put their hands on their heads, and to face away from the door, so you have no idea what’s happening behind you when they open the door,”

“Then they came in and started beating people, several rooms at once, with their hands, feet and batons, including metal ones,” he said. “They unleashed their dogs on us.

“They beat a prisoner who has diabetes and takes three injections a day. He was throwing up so much blood … we were worried sick for two hours that he would be martyred from the amount of blood that he was throwing up,” said Salah.

Israeli forces also “cut open the forehead of another man who was my cellmate,” he said, noting “there was blood all over the prison floors”.

The beatings, said Salah, went on for days. “They have no humanity. Those who beat elderly and sick people have no humanity. The head of the prison himself was making death threats against us.”

 

Tortures are on the Rise

Based on a report published on January 3, 2024, at least six Palestinian detainees have tragically lost their lives while in Israeli jails in the past eight weeks. Among them were two individuals who were still in pre-trial detention. An investigation conducted by Haaretz revealed that autopsies performed on their bodies, as well as testimonies from other detainees, indicated a disturbing pattern of widespread mistreatment within the Israeli prison system. According to the Israeli daily's report, the autopsy conducted on one of the victims, who had passed away while imprisoned in Megiddo prison, unveiled a broken sternum and ribs, along with visible bruises on their head and neck.