Tel Aviv, 7 August 2024 (TDI): Testimonies from 55 ex-Palestinian detainees reveal that more than a dozen Israeli prison camps set up after October 7 are dedicated to the torture and abuse of those in custody, a report by Israeli rights group B’Tselem said.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has collected testimonies from fifty-five Palestinians, including twenty-one from the Gaza Strip, who had been held in Israeli jails, detailing the torture they were subjected to, Al Jazeera reported.
The B’Tselem report, titled Welcome to Hell, revealed on Tuesday that over a dozen Israeli prison facilities have been converted into a network of camps dedicated to the torture of prisoners since the eruption of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Such spaces, in which every prisoner is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless suffering and pain, operate in fact as torture camps, the report said.
The violations include frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; humiliation and degradation; sexual assault; prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment, it added.
The report said that detainee testimonies show a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian inmates.
This policy, it said, is implemented under the direction of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the full backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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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 whole 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 a crime against humanity, the report said in its conclusion.
Call for ICC probe
It called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe individuals suspected of planning, directing and committing these crimes, saying the investigation was not possible inside Israel since the judiciary and all state systems have been mobilized in support of these torture camps.
B’Tselem also said that the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prsons has doubled to 9,623 since the war on Gaza began.
