Rape, torture of Gaza detainees in Israeli custody: Testimony by kidnapped journalist

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody are being subjected to abuses including rape at the hands of Israeli occupation forces in front of everyone, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs said on Monday.

In a press conference held by the Commission of Detainees Affairs in Ramallah, Khaled Mhajne, the commission’s lawyer, reported on his conversation with Mohammed Arab, Al-Araby TV’s Gaza correspondent, who was kidnaped by the Israeli forces during their raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital on March 18.

“Mohammed Arab, the journalist with Al-Araby TV, informed me of cases of rape of inmates as well as torture in front of everyone,” Mhajne said.

Mhajne spoke to Arab in Israel’s Ofer prison in the West Bank, as he was recently moved along with some prisoners from the notorious Sde Teiman detention center in Israel’s Naqab desert.

After speaking to Arab, Mhajne confirmed that the conditions in Ofer are just as bad as those in Sde Teiman.

“Mohammed also spoke of cases of abuse, where detainees were tied up to walls, with dogs released to attack them,” Mhajne said.

Detainees were also beaten with clubs for “hours on end” and “beaten with rifles into their butts”.

In an interview with Al-Araby TV following the press conference, Mhajne recounted a case Arab informed him of involving a 27-year-old detainee who was raped, forced to sleep on his stomach, attacked by police dogs “and then raped with a fire extinguisher and had the tube inserted into his anus”.

The extinguisher was then activated to release its contents into the man’s body, Mhajne said.

Arab also reported knowing of a detainee who recently died due to the lack of medical care.

Mhajne stated that it was impossible to know how many Palestinians from Gaza had died in detention, as Israel is concealing this information.

Arab shares a room with over 20 other Palestinians in Ofer prison, where they are forced to remain tied up even when sleeping, eating or using the bathroom.

Mhajne also spoke of a case during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in which Israeli guards tore up the Quran and trampled on it in front of the detainees.

After his latest testimony to Mhajne, Arab was interrogated by Israeli occupation authorities and reportedly threatened against sharing more information. Despite this, he has continued to relay messages to the lawyer.