The two Palestinian organizations revealed that all previous reports fall short ‘to reflect the level of brutality’ practiced.
The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society revealed “degrading and shocking conditions” under which Palestinian detainees from Gaza are facing in Israel’s notorious Ofer Prison.
A report by the two Palestinian rights organizations published on Thursday comes following recent visits by their legal team to nine detainees from the Strip.
The report outlined the systematic torture to which these detainees are subjected, which was described as “theft and deprivation of detainees’ rights.”
The report established, based on the testimonies of the detainees, that all previous reports by human rights organizations fall short “to reflect the level of brutality that has been and is being practiced against Gaza’s detainees.”
The Israeli Ofer prison administration is accused of systematically violating the rights of detainees, effectively “stripping detainees of their rights in a manner that constitutes abuse.”#FreeThemAll#GazaGenocide https://t.co/HCkOexAtir
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 1, 2024
Psychological Torture
According to the report, one of the psychological torture methods aiming to humiliate Palestinian detainees is forcing them to chant to a so-called ‘captain’ “Thank you Captain” in Hebrew. Those who refuse to comply are reportedly severely punished.
The detainees spoke at length to the lawyers about “the humiliating and degrading positions they are forced to endure.”
One of the examples of these humiliating positions is being forced to sit on “their knees or stomachs in the camp yard for long hours during court sessions held over the phone.”
No Medical Attention
In terms of medical treatment, Palestinian detainees told the lawyers of the Palestinian organizations that the prison’s administration continues to deprive them of medical attention.
Some of the detainees who were allowed to speak to the legal team “were suffering from wounds and injuries that had not healed as a result of their systematic deprivation of treatment.”
The two Palestinian rights groups voiced in their report their deep concern over the spread of skin diseases among the detainees from Gaza in view of the occupation authorities’ ongoing policy of depriving them of hygiene products.
“The detainees have been forced to shower without soap for several months, and through follow-up, the lack of personal hygiene tools was the main reason for the spread of skin diseases among the prisoners and detainees in the various prisons,” the reports indicated.
The Palestinian detainees also mentioned suffering from cold especially at night due to being deprived by the Israeli occupation authorities of adequate clothing and covers.
“As is the case for thousands of prisoners and detainees in the Israeli prisons and camps, the occupation, as part of its systematic policies, is to transform cold weather conditions into a tool for abusing and torturing detainees,” the report read.
Recently leaked video from the Ofer Israeli prison exposes the harsh and inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli jailers. pic.twitter.com/aX1sEZTPD4
— 𝓢𝓐𝓡𝓐 (@sarabahaa94) November 6, 2023
The Revenge Spirit
The report of the two organizations pointed out that a revenge spirit reigns amongst the Israeli occupation soldiers and prison guards, competing who can be more brutal towards the Palestinian detainees.
The report went on to highlight the main challenges that face the rights organizations in addressing the topic of the detainees from Gaza especially in relation to the issue of the “enforced disappearance” of hundreds of detainees in Gaza.
The two organizations stated that some of these challenges include ignoring the precise number of detainees from Gaza in Israeli occupation prisons and the unprecedented “level of brutality”, which include but are not limited to crimes of “torture, abuse, and the crime of starvation, in addition to systematic medical crimes, sexual assaults, and their use as human shields.”
One of the other obstacles that the report mentioned is that the Israeli occupation authority “continues to prevent the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting all prisoners and detainees.
The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society revealed at the end of their report the names of some of the detainees at Ofer Prison based on accounts of prisoners with whom they were able to speak.
Of the 45 Palestinian prisoners mentioned in the report, five are children.
‘Palestinian Detainees Held in Prolonged, Secret Detention, Tortured and Abused’ – UN Report
Death Toll on the Rise
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,204 Palestinians have been killed, and 101,641 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
