GAZA –
On Tuesday, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed new testimonies from recently
released Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip,
including women and children, detailing their subjection to torture and
ill-treatment by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). The rights organization
cited revelations of crimes such as forced nudity, sexual harassment, and
threats of sexual torture, calling for urgent international action to stop
these violations.
اضافة اعلان
Testimonies
from a group of recently released detainees
who spent varying lengths of time in Israeli jails and detention centers were
provided to the Euro-Med Monitor team. These individuals confirmed that they
were subjected to severe beatings, dog attacks, strip searches, and denial of
food and bathroom access, among other cruel practices that amount to torture.
The
most concerning testimonies that Euro-Med Monitor received concern female
detainees who were directly sexually harassed. The female detainees, who
preferred to remain unidentified due to safety concerns, said that IOF soldiers
had harassed them by touching their genitals as well as making them remove
their headscarves. Additionally, the rights group confirmed that the soldiers
forced the female detainees and their families into providing information about
others by threatening to indecently assault and even rape them.
A
70-year-old man who requested anonymity spoke with Euro-Med Monitor’s team as well. “[IOF soldiers] took me from my
house in the neighborhood of Al-Amal in Khan Yunis,” the man, identified only
as “M.N.”, stated. “I told them that I was sick and could not move, but they
did not care. They forced me to take off my clothes. They took me to a
demolished house; I had the impression that I was used as a human shield.”
M.N.
explained that the IOF soldiers made more arrests later on and “led us to a
detention facility that was nothing more than an iron cage for severe
torture." He spent 10 days confined to the prison.
“We
were subjected to daily insults and beatings,” M.N. added. “We went four days
without drinking [anything]. They poured water on the ground in front of us as
a form of torture. We were made to sit on our knees, given little food, and
only allowed to use the restroom once.”
“They
asked us to evacuate, so I left with my family west of Khan Yunis,” reported
another man, identified only as “K.H.N.” due to safety concerns. “[IOF
soldiers] arrested me at the checkpoint and forced me to take off my clothes. I
was severely beaten. Blankets soaked with water were draped over us. We did not
drink any water and were abnormally cold.”
K.H.N.
stated that the IOF “later transferred us to another place, where we were
subjected to another form of torture. Every new place had a unique method of
torture. I was struck in the head by an officer, who continued to hit me after
I complained.” The severe cold prevented him from falling asleep, he told
Euro-Med Monitor.
“They
arrested me from Beit Lahia and forced me to completely undress,” a third man,
identified as “M.W.”, said to the rights organization. “They detained me in an
open area and severely beat me; I felt their hands scour my body. After
severely beating me with rugs and rifle butts, they hung me by my legs. I was
exposed to severe beatings for 4 to 6 hours [per day].”
"They
threatened to rape my family and asked for information that I did not know.
They forced us to insult certain factions and personalities, to support Israel,
and to say that the dog that was attacking us was ‘the crown on our head’,” he
added.
“They
arrested me at the checkpoint on Salah al-Din Road,” revealed a woman who
identified as “G”: “They asked me to head to a sand berm, where they
blindfolded me, searched me with their hands, and asked me about Hamas and the
tunnels.”
“Then
they moved me to an open area, then [transferred] me to a detention center,
where I was forced to take off my clothes,” G continued. “They provided me with
nothing but [house clothes] and no underwear.” She was questioned multiple
times while in custody, she told the rights organization. “Every time I was
stripped nude, with the female soldiers putting their hands on me, while male
soldiers occasionally made rude comments, harsh insults that I cannot [repeat],
and rape threats.”
According
to Euro-Med Monitor, a recent report by Israel’s own media on the detention
center housing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip shows that Israel practices
systematic torture, in violation of human rights agreements that were
explicitly designed and implemented to prevent torture. The report shows
detainees being shackled and forced to sit on the ground in iron animal-like
cages—in accordance with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s October 2023
statement that Palestinians in Gaza are “human animals.”
Euro-Med
Monitor stressed that the IOF is forcibly disappearing Palestinian detainees
and subjecting them to brutal violence and even severe torture from the very
first moment of their arrest right up until the moment of release. The
organization noted that the IOF has refused requests from multiple human rights
organizations, including Israeli ones, seeking information about Gazan
detainees. Detainees from the Gaza Strip are being held in newly-established
IOF detention facilities scattered throughout Negev and Jerusalem, where they
endure severe abuse, torture, and starvation.
According
to Euro-Med Monitor, the IOF systematically humiliates detainees, holding them
for extended periods of time without providing any valid reason and often
forcing them to chant in favor of Israel while disparaging Palestinian groups
and individuals. Some Gazan detainees have been blackmailed by members of the
IOF and Shin Bet, exchanging information with them in order to alleviate their
torture, obtain certain "privileges," or secure their release.
The
rights organization pointed to the concerning lack of an accurate count of
detainees from Gaza. The IOF recently claimed that there are 2,300 detainees in
Gaza; however, estimates based on the testimonies of those released suggest
that the actual number of detainees is much higher. One detainee said that
Israeli officers had personally informed them that there are thousands of Gazan
detainees.
Israel’s
Sde Teman army camp, located between Beersheba and Gaza, has been turned into a
Guantánamo-like prison, according to Euro-Med Monitor. Detainees there are held
in extreme conditions akin to open-air chicken cages, without access to food or
drink for long periods of time. The organization highlighted testimonies it has
received about the deaths of two detainees inside the Sde Teman camp, one of
whom had an amputated foot; Israel has not officially announced their deaths.
Euro-Med
Human Rights Monitor called on Israel to promptly reveal the names,
whereabouts, and fate of all forcibly disappeared detainees and to immediately
stop its policy of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. Euro-Med
Monitor emphasized that Israel’s ruthless assaults on Palestinian detainees,
which violate their dignity and purposefully cause them great pain and
suffering, are tantamount to crimes against humanity and torture, which fall
under the purview of war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined by the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Euro-Med
Monitor stated that these breaches are related to Israel’s ongoing genocide in
the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023. Specifically, the killing of
Palestinian detainees inside detention centers is considered a crime of
premeditated murder and extrajudicial execution. According to the Rome Statute,
killing civilians on purpose is a war crime, so this kind of killing is against
international law, particularly international human rights law, international
humanitarian law, and international criminal law.
International
law also prohibits arbitrary arrest and unlawful imprisonment and considers
them to be war crimes, said the rights group. International law forbids
detaining and arresting someone and depriving them of their freedom by failing
to provide any information about their whereabouts or fate in an effort to deny
them legal protection for an extended period of time. According to the Rome
Statute, enforced disappearance is considered a crime against humanity.
The
Euro-Med Monitor called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
to bear its responsibilities and verify the detention conditions of Palestinian
detainees in Israeli prisons. Euro-Med Monitor also called on the Special
Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to open an urgent and
impartial investigation into the grave situation. This investigation is needed,
it said, to probe the IOF’s liquidation of Palestinian civilians after their
arrest in different areas of the Gaza Strip, to hold those responsible
accountable, and to provide justice to all survivors as well as the families of
victims.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
