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Gaza abductees endure 'shocking' conditions in Israeli jail: Rights groups

Friday, 01 November 2024 11:17 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 01 November 2024 11:17 AM ]

A file photo by AFP shows Israel's Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank.

Two rights groups say the Palestinians abducted by Israel from the Gaza Strip are subject to abuse and degrading treatment in the regime's Ofer prison.

In a report on Wednesday, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society detailed “tragic conditions and shocking accounts of torture and abuse," in the notorious jail in the occupied West Bank.

Torture is “a core experience” for Gaza inmates in Ofer, where the prison administration continues to “strip detainees of their rights in a manner that constitutes abuse," the report added.

It further noted that prisoners are denied healthcare and forced to shout “thank you, Captain (prison head)” in Hebrew, with punishments imposed on those who refuse.

The abductees also suffer from cold due to inadequate warm clothing and blankets, according to the report which was released following lawyers' visits to six Gaza inmates.

"A pattern of retribution driven behavior among guards and soldiers, who appear to be competing over who can treat the detainees most harshly," along with “enforced disappearances” affecting hundreds of detainees from the Gaza Strip, it said.

Abducted and forgotten: IOF kidnaps 100s of Gazans

The suffering of Palestinian families worsens with the absence of their loved ones who have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Countless testimonies speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep. The victims also recount electrocutions, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual abuse.

“Torture practices are irredeemably unlawful and constitute international crimes, yet form part of the modus operandi of Israel’s notorious detention and torture system,” a group of UN experts warned in August.

Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023. Since then, it has kidnapped thousands of Palestinians from the besieged territory.

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