Palestinian captives in Israeli jails report surge in torture

Palestinian captives currently languishing in Israeli jails have reported being beaten by troops, and threatened with violence if they refuse to kiss the Israeli flag.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the latest instances of violence happened at several prisons in northern Occupied Territories and testimonies were submitted to the media and human rights groups.

Captives at Megiddo Prison have reported several cases of harsh violence and abuse carried out by prison authorities. Testimonies are emerging from the prison of severely inhumane conditions, which human rights groups have brought to the Israeli attorney general's attention.

Haaretz, quoting detainees at Gilboa Prison, also reported that guards had assaulted, humiliated, and abused them since the regime launched the ongoing war against Gaza on October 7

"Eleven captives were put in a cell that usually held a third of that. [The guards] threw the food on the floor, sometimes they mashed it with their feet, and every day – under the pretext of a "search" – they would beat the captives with iron sticks," one Palestinian testimony said about the treatment of captives.

Inmates have reported several cases of harsh violence and abuse carried out by prison wardens, including guards kicking, punching and humiliating captives.

On Tuesday it was announced that a seventh Palestinian prisoner attained martyrdom in an Israeli jail since October 7.

Palestinian officials have already said testimonies from released Palestinian abductees from the besieged Gaza Strip revealed they had been subjected to torture by Israeli forces. They stated that the abductees were subjected to all forms of beatings and ill-treatment during their detention.

The testimonies came from abductees who said they were held in a makeshift detention camp in Beersheba, also known as Bir as-Sab.

A Geneva-based rights group recently called for an urgent international investigation into the torture and murder of Palestinian abductees held in Israel’s “Guantanamo-like” jails.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said it had gathered testimonies confirming recent reports in Israeli media about the regime’s field execution of the Gaza abductees.

The Sde Teman Israeli army camp has been turned into “a new Guantanamo-like prison,” where detainees lose their lives after being subjected to extreme torture and mistreatment.

The Israeli army uses open-air chicken coops to house the inmates and withhold food or drink for long periods.

The rights group also noted that the Palestinians held in Sde Teman are caged in inhumane conditions, blindfolded and subjected to harsh interrogations with their hands tied.

One of the released detainees had said that he witnessed Israeli soldiers directly shooting and assassinating abductees in separate incidents.

ME