Full story
Torture allegations in Gaza
A new report presented on Monday, March 23, says UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese demonstrated the role of torture in what it calls the genocidal machinery in Palestine, concluding that "Torture is a structural characteristic of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Palestine and of the broader settler-colonial apartheid."
The Mediapart report frames the torture claim as part of what it describes as "an obsessive and hateful agenda aimed at delegitimizing the State of Israel," citing the Israeli mission in Geneva (Switzerland).
Separately, Palestine Chronicle Staff said two Palestinians released from Israeli detention described a system of torture, abuse, and inhumane treatment inside Israeli prisons and detention centers, with testimonies released on Saturday to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Palestinian journalist Khader Bakr Abdel Aal, described as detained at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex on March 18, 2024, said soldiers handcuffed him behind his back, blindfolded him, stripped him of his clothes, and subjected him and dozens of other detainees to hours of severe beatings.
Abdel Aal said a physician told him, "I didn’t come to treat you. I came to torture you," after he informed the doctor about a chronic skin condition.
Prison abuse accounts
Palestine Chronicle Staff reported that Abdel Aal said approximately 150 detainees were transported together before being separated into smaller buses, where they remained shackled by both hands and feet while continuing to endure physical assaults.
Abdel Aal described the period he spent in the Sde Teiman detention camp as "a continuous series of torture," saying detainees were forbidden from speaking, praying, or sleeping normally and that access to toilets was restricted to only a few minutes each day.
The same account said Israeli prison raid units entered detention sections almost weekly to carry out mass beatings, including during religious holidays, and that the violence appeared unrelated to interrogations or intelligence gathering.
Al Jazeera Net said that on the occasion of World Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Palestinian prisoners released from the Gaza Strip provided testimonies via Al Jazeera Mubasher describing violations including brutal beating, humiliation, medical neglect, and deprivation of basic rights.
In those Al Jazeera Net accounts, journalist خضر بكر عبد العال said that when he told the doctor about a chronic skin disease he suffered from, he was told, "I’m not here to treat you, I’m here to torture you."
Calls for accountability
In a press statement on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Hamas called for the trial of the leaders of the Israeli occupation over what it described as crimes of torture and systematic violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Hamas said the day comes amid what it described as ongoing systematic violations experienced by Palestinian prisoners and detainees inside Israeli prisons, and it urged that leaders not escape accountability while calling for intensified international pressure to protect prisoners and work toward their release.
The Palestinian Information Center said Hamas described the violations as including psychological and physical torture, denial of medical care, visitation, and food, along with solitary confinement and imposing detention conditions it called “inhumane” against thousands of prisoners.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Abdullah al-Zughari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, said prisoners from the Gaza Strip are subjected to ongoing tortures beyond what any human could imagine, carried out by a right-wing Israeli apparatus.
Al-Zughari said torture has become "a doctrine, structure, and creed" of the right-wing, carried out through instructions from political and military authorities, and he added that since the start of the war Israeli forces detained about 20,000 residents from the Gaza Strip.
