One of the detainees, Faris Hijazi from Rafah, who was held for two months, spoke about the various methods of torture used by the Israeli military including beatings and electric shocks.
Israeli authorities have released 16 Palestinians, including an elderly woman and a youth, who were arrested from areas across the Gaza Strip since last October.
The detainees were released through the Israeli army’s Kissufim military post in the east of Deir al-Balah city, in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Thirteen detainees were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah due to their health conditions, reported the Anadolu news agency.
Adib Mafarja from the town of Beit Laqya, west of Ramallah,embraces freedom after 9 months of illegal administrative detention.
Before and after captivity .. pic.twitter.com/AmPvDpdcac
— Palestine Captives 𓂆 (@Palestinecapti1) July 17, 2024
The agency’s correspondent said that “there were signs of torture” on the bodies of the detainees when doctors examined them.
One of the detainees, Faris Hijazi from Rafah, who was held for two months, spoke about the various methods of torture used by the Israeli military including beatings and electric shocks, according to Palestinian sources.
Hijazai described how the prisoners barely ate or slept, saying that from the early hours of the morning to midnight, the prisoners would be subjected to abuse.
Another prisoner who was also held for two months, Rami Sameh Hmeid, described the use of dogs and pepper spray in torture. He said they would sleep from 6 AM to 9 AM only, adding that detainees would be blindfolded and on the ground for the entire day. Some had their limbs broken.
Total Detentions Unknown
In the past months, Israel has released dozens of detainees, who have confirmed in their testimonies that they were subjected to abuse, torture and harsh interrogation.
The Israeli army has arrested thousands of Palestinians from different areas across the Gaza Strip. However, Israeli authorities refuse to give an exact number of arrests, reported Anadolu.
The recently released Director of the Al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, said no international organizations were permitted to visit detainees, nor were they allowed access to lawyers. Meanwhile, Dr Salmiya said the detainees were subjected to “severe torture and almost daily assaults inside the prisons and were denied medical treatments”.
In June, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor issued a new report documenting testimonies from released Gaza detainees who detailed the abuse and torture.
One detainee spoke of being “beaten and subjected to electric shocks” because he “refused to be injected” with an unknown substance.
‘Worse than Abu Ghraib’ – This is How Israel Tortures Its Palestinian Hostages
Rape and Sexual Assault
A detained Palestinian journalist from Gaza described to his lawyer, Khaled Mahajneh, multiple instances of torture, abuse and rape that he and other detainees endured at the Israeli Sde Teiman detention camp in the Naqab (Negev) desert.
Detainees were subjected to continuous torture, physical and sexual abuse and humiliation, leading to deaths among them, Mahajneh said.
The lawyer learned that six prisoners at the camp were subjected to sexual assault and rape by Israeli soldiers, in front of the other detainees.
‘Beyond Imagination’ – Lawyer Hears Testimony of Torture, Rape at Israeli Detention Camp
An investigation by The New York Times last month confirmed that Israel was carrying out a policy of systematic torture at the Sde Teiman detention camp.
Reports of abuse at Sde Teiman had already emerged in both Israeli and Arab media, following outcries from local and international rights groups about the horrific conditions there.
Deaths in Detention
The NYT investigation revealed that 1,200 Palestinian civilians were detained at Sde Teiman “in demeaning conditions without the ability to plead their cases to a judge for up to 75 days.” Additionally, detainees were denied “access to lawyers for up to 90 days”.
An Israeli soldier who served at Sde Teiman disclosed to the NYT that his fellow soldiers often bragged about beating detainees, and he observed signs of such treatment.
“Of the 4,000 detainees housed at Sde Teiman since October, 25 have died either at the site or after being brought to nearby civilian hospitals,” the NYT reported, citing officers at the base.
‘Dead or Alive?’ – NYT Report Reveals Torture, Abuse inside Israel’s Detention Center
In May, CNN reported that three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman detention camp revealed systemic abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded, and forced to wear diapers.
They described “a routine search when the guards would unleash large dogs on sleeping detainees, lobbing a sound grenade at the enclosure as troops barged in.”
Earlier this year, the Palestine Chronicle published a special report on the treatment of female detainees at the Damon prison, at the hands of Israeli authorities, including being “subjected to humiliating strip searches”.
(PC, Anadolu)
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