By Robert Inlakesh

The Israeli military operates now with not only full impunity, but also the backing of a large segment of their own society.

Israel’s onslaught against the northern West Bank, constituting the largest military operation in the occupied territory since 2002’s infamous Operation Defensive Shield, has brought about a number of horror stories already, including the torturing to death of a 50-year-old civilian. 

However, these tactics are nothing new and have been a daily reality facing Palestinians since October 7.

A 50-year-old Palestinian man, named Ayman Rajeh Abed, from the town of Kafr Dan in Western Jenin, was kidnapped from his home on Monday morning by Israeli forces invading Jenin. 

Abed was taken to the nearby Salem military checkpoint where he was beaten profusely and reports indicate he was tortured in order to give up the whereabouts of his son, who had reportedly been shot and wounded by Israeli forces. It is not clear why the 50-year-old’s son was considered “wanted”.

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Later that day, Abed’s body was handed over to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which described his remains as showing signs of severe torture that had led to his death in detention. 

His funeral procession (Janaza) was held in the streets of Kafr Dan that day, drawing huge crowds of mourners, on a day when Israeli occupation forces had killed three Palestinians in Jenin.

Despite the horrific nature of Ayman Rajeh Abed’s death, while under detention, this story comes as no major surprise to Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza who have suffered torture on an unprecedented scale over the past 11 months. 

In fact, according to a report released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between October 7, 2023, and July 31, at least 53 Palestinian prisoners died in Israeli custody. 

The official number of Palestinians held as political prisoners is around 10,000, at least 3,432 of which are held without any charge at all. 

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Not that the 99.9 percent conviction rate of the Israeli military court systems makes for a legitimate incarceration case against those actually accused of “crimes” makes it legitimate, but they do not even bother to make an argument for those held under “administrative detention” that can be continually extended for as long as Israel pleases. 

In reality, however, the number of those held by Israel as hostages is actually much higher. 

According to the head of the Israeli Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, in a letter he wrote to Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this June, he set the number of detainees as 21,000. 

There is also the issue of those who have been detained temporarily and were tortured in interrogation facilities, checkpoints and even their own homes, for which we have no data to give us an accurate reading of how many tens of thousands have been affected in this way.

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This distinction between those temporarily detained and those who were imprisoned is also key, as the kinds of horrors they are subjected to are different. 

Similarly, many Palestinians who were taken captive from Gaza were transferred to makeshift military detention camps and interrogation centers, either inside Gaza or at nearby military bases, meaning that most of them never end up actually facing trial or being placed at the mercy of the Israeli prison services, but instead are held hostage by soldiers. 

Inside both Israel’s military prisons and army detention centers, torture has been widespread and routine. This has included rape, sexual assaults, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation, starvation, being forced to drink from toilets and various other horrors that have been widely documented to have been inflicted on Palestinian detainees who are held everywhere from the West Bank’s Ofer prison to the infamous Sde Teiman detention facility that was dubbed “Palestine’s Abu Ghraib”.

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Israel has used torture routinely against Palestinian detainees for decades and this is not a new practice that emerged in a post-October 7 setting. While Israel had originally legalized various kinds of torture, it eventually formerly banned traditional torture methods. Yet, according to a 2017 statement from B’Tselem, Israel’s top human rights group, torture is still practiced against Palestinian inmates, adding that:

“This system of interrogation, which relies on a combination of holding conditions and interrogator conduct, was shaped by state authorities. It is not the personal initiative of any particular interrogator or prison guard, and the actions described here are not anomalies to be weeded out by the justice system. 

The cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees is inherent to the ISA’s violent interrogation policy. This policy is dictated from above, and not set by interrogators in the field.”

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Israel’s use of widespread torture against Palestinians held under their detention is nothing new, but what we are seeing today across the occupied Palestinian territories is on a scale that has never been witnessed before. 

After Israel’s pro-gang rape protests and an Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) poll suggesting 65 percent of Israelis agree with the right to sexually assault Palestinian detainees, the Israeli military operates now with not only full impunity, but also the backing of a large segment of their own society when carrying out abuses against Palestinians held under their detention.

(The Palestine Chronicle)