Israel's mistreatment, torture of Palestinian abductees reaches 'crisis point'

Israel’s longstanding mistreatment and the use of torture against Palestinian abductees have reached a “crisis point,” Palestinian authorities say.

The authorities on Sunday cited reports of severe beatings and systematic starvation in the regime’s detention center in the Occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Authority, who has recently visited Israel’s Ofer Prison said on Sunday Israel is using “hunger and medical neglect” as forms of collective punishment against Palestinian detainees.

The lawyer told Palestine's official WAFA news agency that at least seven suicide attempts were reported by detainees “due to the dire conditions and brutal treatment by guards” in the prison.

“One detainee suffered severe burns while taking a shower with excessively hot water, a situation resulting from the prison administration’s control over water temperature. This detainee has not received medical treatment for the burns,” the lawyer said.

He said one cancer patient, who was being held in the prison, “was assaulted while being transferred for chemotherapy treatment."

The lawyer said that he was later informed that the treatment session had been canceled.

Another Palestinian detainee, he said, “has been subjected to severe beatings during his arrest and has lost over 12 kilograms since his detention on February 18, 2023.”

Torture, hunger, humiliation: Freed Palestinians recount Israeli jail conditions

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has treated 13 people, including an elderly woman, who were released at the Kissufim checkpoint in central Gaza.

Freed Palestinians admitted to hospital in Gaza

On Thursday, Al-Jazeera reported that eight freed prisoners, who were severely tortured by Israel’s guards at Ofer Prison, were admitted to al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza.

Two women and six men were released from the jail, it said. Among the prisoners, some of the men appeared to show signs of physical abuse and were grimacing in pain.

“One of the females was unable to walk and was carried inside the emergency department on a stretcher,” said the report.

It said one of the female detainees was abducted by the regime’s forces when she was visiting the occupied West Bank with her child.

Citing the released prisoners, the report said that “they were tortured; they all said they were threatened. They all said they were deprived of medicine and clothes.”

Israel, according to the Gaza media office, has kidnapped at least 5,000 Palestinians since October 2023, when the military launched its bloodiest-ever war in the besieged territory.

The fate of many of them or the conditions of their detention are still unknown, said the media office.

Human rights groups have repeatedly raised the alarm about “unprecedented difficult conditions” in which all Palestinian detainees, including women, are being held. Around 80 female detainees are currently being held in the regime prisons. 

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