Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Three Palestinian detainees abducted from Gaza by Israeli forces during the genocide have died in Israeli jails, Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups confirmed on Thursday, amid reports of torture and medical negligence.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) issued a joint statement identifying the three detainees as Taysir Saeed al-Abd Sababa (60), Khamis Shukri Mar’i Ashour (44), and Khalil Ahmad Khalil Haniyeh (35).
Sababa, a father of nine, died on December 31 last year, two months after his arrest. Haniyeh, a father of four, died on December 25, almost a year after his arrest. The statement did not specify when Ashour, a father of six, died.
Their deaths bring the total number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023, to 84, including 50 from Gaza, the groups added. The noted that the period since October 2023 has seen an "unprecedented" rise in the "systematic crimes practised in [Israeli] prisons," making it the "bloodiest in the history of the prisoner movement since 1967".
This brings the total number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody since 1967 to 321. However, they noted that the true figure is likely higher, as dozens of detainees abducted from Gaza are subjected to enforced disappearance.
Tortured in Israeli Prisons
The organisations said Palestinian prisoners continue to die in detention due to torture, starvation, medical neglect, sexual assault, and systematic violations of human rights.
As part of the Gaza ceasefire deal which took effect on October 10, 345 Palestinian bodies have been released by Israel over the past weeks. The bodies showed clear signs of torture and abuse.
Testimonies describe regular beatings by Israeli guards, extreme overcrowding, humiliation, and inadequate hygiene.
An Israeli reserve soldier exposed lately shocking abuses at Israel’s infamous Sde Teiman military base, describing it as a “sadistic torture site” where dozens of Palestinian detainees from Gaza died under brutal conditions.
The soldier described Sde Teiman as a place where “people enter alive and leave in body bags.”
He said the death of detainees was no longer surprising. “The real surprise,” he added, “is if someone survives.” He stated that Israeli occupation authorities oversee systematic abuse.
According to his account, Palestinian detainees suffered starvation, untreated war wounds, and denial of basic hygiene needs. “Some urinated and defecated on themselves because they weren’t allowed to use the bathroom,” he said.
In August 2024, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem accused Israeli occupation authorities of systematically abusing Palestinians in “torture camps”, subjecting them to severe violence and sexual assault. Its report, titled “Welcome to Hell”, is based on 55 testimonies from former detainees from the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and citizens of Israel. The overwhelming majority of these detainees were held without trial.
According to the Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies, more than half of the Palestinian prisoners who have died since October 2023, were killed primarily as a result of torture and abuse. Due to the sharp rise in arrests, particularly among Gazans, Israel has opened new detention and interrogation centers operated directly by its military. According to the center, these facilities have become sites of “systematic torture and mistreatment, in clear violation of international law and human rights.”
Many prisoners from Gaza have been subjected to forced disappearance and held incommunicado under inhumane conditions, creating an environment where extrajudicial killings can occur without oversight or accountability, the center added.
In addition to torture, the center documented dozens deaths resulting from medical negligence. Israel is reported to routinely deny prisoners access to basic medical care, holding them in unsanitary, disease-ridden conditions and delaying or outright refusing necessary treatment for extended periods. In many cases, prisoners are only transferred to hospitals when they are on the brink of death.
Recently-released Palestinians: What They Say?
The freed Palestinians said they were beaten and humiliated, describing the Israeli prisons they were held in as “slaughterhouses”.
Al Jazeera correspondent Ibrahim al-Khalili’s brother, Mohammed, who was held for more than 19 months without charge and released in a prisoner exchange deal as part of the Gaza ceasefire, described his ordeal as a “big struggle”.
“We were beaten and humiliated. We suffered a lot. But thank God, it’s all over now,” al-Khalili said.
Abdallah Abu Rafe described his release as a “great feeling”.
“We were in a slaughterhouse, not a prison. Unfortunately, we were in a slaughterhouse called the Ofer prison. Many young men are still there. The situation in the Israeli prisons is very difficult. There are no mattresses. They always take the mattresses away. The food situation is difficult. Things are difficult there,” he said.
Another released detainee, Yasin Abu Amra, described conditions in Israeli jails as “very, very bad”. “In terms of the food, the oppression, and the beatings, everything was bad. There was no food or drink. I hadn’t eaten for four days. They gave me two sweets here, and I ate them,” he said.
Saed Shubair, who was also freed on Monday, said he did not know how to describe his feelings. “The feeling is indescribable,” he said.
“Seeing the sun without bars is an indescribable feeling. My hands are free from the handcuffs. Freedom is priceless.” “It’s an indescribable feeling, a new birth,” said Mahdi Ramadan, flanked by his parents after his release from prison.
Palestinian journalist prisoner Shadi Abu Seed gave a harrowing account of life inside an Israeli prison after his release. “I went hungry for the past two years. I swear to God, they didn’t feed us. They kept us naked. They beat us while we were naked day and night. We were tortured,” Abu Seed said.
“Until our last day in Israeli prison, they cut us and hit us and abused us. We endured every kind of torture, emotional and physical.” “We couldn’t even sleep. They threatened us with our children. They told me they killed my children. They told us that Gaza was destroyed. I arrived here and found that everything was gone. It looked like the end of the world. Everything is different.”
“He’s been locked up for 24 years,” said a relative of Saber Masalma, who was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. “He looks like a dead body. But we will bring him back to life,” he said.
According to Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups, every time prisoners are released, the prisoners’ bodies reflect the level of crimes committed against them, including torture that is “unprecedented” in its level after October 7, “starvation crimes, systematic medical crimes, and the infection of a number of them with scabies, in addition to the severe beatings that the prisoners were subjected to before their release.”
Signs of Severe Torture on Bodies
Most of the freed bodies also remain unidentified.
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, the bodies, dozens of which have yet to be formally identified, showed “conclusive evidence of field executions and brutal torture”. It said the bodies showed signs of:
- Hanging and rope marks on the necks of several bodies
- Direct gunfire at close range, “confirming deliberate field executions”
- Hands and feet being bound with plastic restraints
- Eyes being blindfolded
- Being crushed under Israeli tank tracks
- Fractures, burns and deep wounds, indicating “severe physical torture”
“We call for the urgent establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate these heinous crimes and to hold Israeli leaders accountable for the war crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip,” the Office said.
Dr. Ismail Al-Thawabta, Director General of the Government Media Office, said Israeli occupation forces stole organs from the bodies of Palestinian detainees returned to Gaza.
He said dozens of bodies delivered near the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis were found mutilated and missing vital parts, including eyes, limbs, and internal organs.
“When we examined the bodies, we found that large parts were missing, there were half bodies, bodies without heads, without limbs, without eyes, and without internal organs.”
Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza’s Health Ministry, spoke about the “clear signs of torture” found on the bodies of Palestinians that were returned to the Gaza Strip.
“One body shows signs of hanging with a rope still wrapped around the neck, blindfolds around the eyes and bound hands. That martyr was placed as is and sent to us,” Zaqout said.
Still Facing Harsh Conditions
A report by Israel’s public defender’s office released this week said the detention conditions for Palestinian prisoners have grown markedly worse since October 7, with many suffering severe hunger, massive overcrowding, and poor sanitary conditions.
Israeli far-right ministers such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have often bragged that their racist policies have led to harsher conditions for Palestinian inmates.
The report said reduced food allotments for Palestinian prisoners introduced after the October 7 attacks on Israel have led to “severe hunger, manifested in sharp weight loss and accompanying physical symptoms including extreme physical weakness and even fainting”, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The public defender’s report – based on visits to Israeli detention facilities such as Ramon, Megiddo, Ayalon, Shatta, Eshel and Ketziot – also stated that Palestinian detainees “are held in dark cells without lighting, in harsh sanitary conditions, in stifling heat and without ventilation”.
Many detainees suffer poor health conditions as a result, it added.
There are currently more than 10,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including 450 children, 87 women, and 3,629 held without charge or trial.
According to several Palestinian prisoner-monitoring groups, these conditions have persisted even after the Gaza ceasefire was signed.
