“Israel is committing torture that amounts to a war crime and even a crime against humanity.”
‘Welcome to Hell’ is the title of a report on the abuse and inhuman treatment of Palestinians held in Israeli custody since October 7 published by the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem.
The organization collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons and detention facilities during that time and released, almost all with no charges.
“We were taken to Megiddo. When we got off the bus, a soldier said to us: “Welcome to hell,” is the testimony of Fouad Hassan 45, from Qusrah in Nablus District.
B’Tselem said the detainees’ testimonies “reveal the outcomes of the rushed transformation of more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, military and civilian, into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as a matter of policy.”
“Facilities in which every inmate is deliberately subjected to harsh, relentless pain and suffering operate as de-facto torture camps,” the report said.
Thirty of the witnesses are residents of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; 21 are residents of the Gaza Strip; and four are Israeli citizens.
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“The testimonies clearly indicate a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,” the organization said.
It documented frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation, prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment.
‘Systematic Abuse’
These descriptions, B’Tselem said, appear time and again in the testimonies, “in horrifying detail and with chilling similarities.”
“The abuse consistently described in the testimonies of dozens of individuals held in different facilities was so systematic, that there is no room to doubt an organized, declared policy of the Israeli prison authorities,” said the organization. “This policy is implemented under the direction of the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, whose office oversees the Israel Prison Service (IPS), with the full support of the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
B’Tselem said, “The overall picture indicates abuse and torture carried out under orders, in utter defiance of Israel’s obligations both under domestic law and under international law.”
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Sixty Deaths in Detention
The organization said “no less than 60” Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody.
The report includes testimonies given to B’Tselem regarding three of these deaths.
Thaer Abu ‘Asab, a 38-year-old from Qalqiliyah held in the Negev (Ketziot) Prison, was found dead in his cell on 18 November 2023. On his body were severe signs of violence. ‘Arafat Hamdan, a 24-year-old diabetic from Beit Beit Sira who relied on insulin treatments, was found dead in his cell on October 24, 2023, two days after his arrest. The testimonies reveal he was denied proper medical treatment.
Muhammad a-Sabbar, a 20-year-old from the town of a-Dhahiriyah who had an intestinal disease requiring a special diet, died at Ofer Prison on 8 February, according to testimonies due to lack of proper nutrition, poor medical care and brazen disregard for his condition.
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The testimonies given to B’Tselem reveal prevalent, consistent and widespread conditions inside Israel’s “torture camps” such as overpopulation and crowding in cells; no sunlight and no air to breathe; violent roll calls, increased frequency; withholding access to the courts, aid agencies and legal counsel; and confiscation of personal possessions.
“We were also forbidden to go outside to the yard, unlike before. For 191 days, I didn’t see the sun,” said Thaer Halahleh, 45, who was held in the Ofer and Nafha prisons.
Sexual, Psychological Abuse
The report also documented “unrelenting physical and psychological abuse,” with testimonies attesting to physical, sexual, psychological and verbal violence, directed at all Palestinian prisoners and “perpetrated in an arbitrary, menacing fashion, usually under a shroud of anonymity.”
“The scope of violence emerging from the testimonies clarifies that these are not isolated, random incidents, but rather an institutional policy integral to the treatment of prisoners,” said B’Tselem.
“I leaned against a wall. I had broken ribs and was injured in my right shoulder, my right thumb, and a finger on my left hand. I couldn’t move or breathe for half an hour. Everyone around me was screaming in pain, and some inmates were crying. Most were bleeding. It was a nightmare beyond words,” testified Ashraf al-Muhtaseb, 53, a father of five and resident of Hebron District, who was held in the Etzion detention facility and the Ofer and Negev.
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Another detainee said: “We were stripped naked and even had to take off our underwear…They forced us to spread our legs and then sit half crouching. Then they started hitting us on our private parts with the detector. They rained blows down on us. Then they ordered us to salute an Israeli flag that was hanging on the wall.”
Sleep Deprivation
Some detainees reported sleep deprivation as “an integral part of daily abuses meted out on inmates.”
In some cases, the lighting in the cells is on throughout the night; in others, guards played loud music or unpleasant sounds to keep prisoners from sleeping.
“These are acts that sometimes amount to actual torture,” said the report.
“The next day, two guards came and took me to a cell the size of 1.5 square meters with no toilet. I was in that cell alone for more than three months. […] The light was on 24/7 and I lost track of time. I didn’t know what time it was or what day was. I had no one to talk to. I almost went crazy in there,” said a detainee identified as M.A. from the Hebron (Al Khalil) District.
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Various testimonies revealed repeated use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of severity, by soldiers or prison guards against Palestinian detainees.
The witnesses “described blows to the genitals and other body parts of naked prisoners; the use of metal tools and batons to cause genital pain; the photographing of naked prisoners; genitals being grabbed; and strip-searches for the sake of humiliation and degradation. The testimonies also reveal cases of gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of prison guards or soldiers.”
The report also documented testimonies of absence and denial of medical treatment, food deprivation and starvation, and hygiene and cutting off the water supply.
‘Death Squad’
Among the prison service’s special units, the Initial Reaction Force (IRF), known in Hebrew as Keter, which operates at the Negev (Ketziot) and Ofer prisons, featured prominently in the testimonies given to B’Tselem. Two witnesses referred to it as the “death squad.”
The collection of testimonies given to B’Tselem shows the IRF has been heavily involved in the torture and physical, sexual and mental abuse of prisoners since October 7, said B’Tselem.
According to the witnesses, “IRF personnel wear masks and black uniforms with no identification tags.”
They are armed with batons and firearms, and often accompanied by dogs. In one case, the unit reportedly used a stun grenade.
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“Impossible to identify, and safe in the knowledge they would face no consequences for their actions, members of the unit employed brazen, unbridled violence that amounts to abuse and torture,” said B’Tselem.
War Crimes
In early July 2024, there were 9,623 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities almost double the number just before the war began, according to B’Tselem.
Of these, 4,781 were detained without trial, without being presented with the allegations against them, and without access to the right to defend themselves, in what Israel terms “administrative detention.”
B’Tselem said that given the severity of the acts, “the extent to which the provisions of international law are being violated, and the fact that these violations are directed at the entire population of Palestinian prisoners daily and over time – the only possible conclusion is that in carrying out these acts, Israel is committing torture that amounts to a war crime and even a crime against humanity.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
The Fourth Reich.