Palestinian rights group calls for closure of ‘Israeli torture camps’

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Palestinian detainees are enduring severe physical and psychological torture in Israeli detention facilities, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights has said.

In a Tuesday statement, Al Mezan said the detainees “have been exposed naked to the scorching sun while standing on sharp gravel stones, subjected to verbal abuse, and threatened with rape, death, and bombing, along with threats against their families.”

The rights group added that recent testimony and evidence “reveal a level of violence that resounds with the atrocities documented in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib”, referring to the United States-run detention facility in Cuba and the prison in Iraq where US soldiers abused detainees.

Al Mezan said that the detainees have also been “deprived of food, water, sleep, and access to sanitation for extended periods, all while facing extremely harsh living conditions”.

It estimated at least 2,650 Palestinians taken from the Gaza Strip after October 7 remain in Israeli custody, including 12 children and two women.

Among them, approximately 300 are facing trials, while 2,350 are classified as “unlawful combatants” without a defined detention period or specific charges.

Al Mezan said the torture has resulted in several deaths but there was no definitive record of the total number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) disclosed the full identities of 22 Palestinians who died as a result of torture or medical negligence.

“The targeting of Palestinian residents of Gaza appears to be part of a broader pattern of abuse, consistent with the crime of genocide,” according to Al Mezan.

The findings echo reports by other rights groups who have denounced the widespread abuse.

Footage recently broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 showed sexual abuse inflicted on Palestinian detainees, drawing international condemnation and confirming numerous witness accounts.

In a report titled “Welcome to Hell,” Israeli human rights group B’Tselem presented testimonies from 55 Palestinians, including 21 from the Gaza Strip, who had been held in Israeli prisons.

The violations they recounted included “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation”.

B’Tselem said at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7, including about 48 people from Gaza.

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