Key takeaways from B’Tselem’s report on Israel’s ‘torture camps’
The Israeli human rights group collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians, including 21 from the Gaza Strip, who had been held in Israeli prisons since October 7.
The detainees spoke to B’Tselem following their release – here are some details:
- The B’Tselem report reveals that more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities were converted into a network of camps “dedicated to the abuse of inmates” following October 7.
- “Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps,” it said.
- The violations include “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation; prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment”.
- B’Tselem said at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7. Some 48 of them were from Gaza.
- The report said that detainee testimonies demonstrate “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners”. This policy, it said, is implemented under the direction of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the full support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- B’Tselem also noted that the number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails has doubled to 9,623 since the war on Gaza began.
Reports of torture in Israel’s Sde Teiman ‘only represent the tip of iceberg’
A group of 10 UN human rights experts have decried the world’s “silence” on reports of Israeli forces torturing Palestinian detainees, warning that the allegations of maltreatment and sexual violence at Israel’s Sde Teiman prison “only represent the tip of the iceberg”.
The independent experts said they have received “substantiated reports of widespread abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape” of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
“Countless testimonies by men and women speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, stripped naked, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep, electrocutions including on their genitals, blackmail and cigarette burns,” they said in a statement. “In addition, victims spoke of loud music played until their ears bled, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence.”
The experts called on the international community to ramp up pressure on Israel, stating that the “allegations of gang rape of a Palestinian detainee – now shockingly supported by voices in the Israeli political establishment and society – provide irrefutable evidence that the moral compass is lost”. They also urged the UN Human Rights Council, in particular, to urgently launch an inquiry into Israeli facilities holding Palestinians.
Israeli reservists fail polygraph probing sexual abuse allegations: Report
Two Israeli reservists suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner have failed a polygraph test about the allegations, reports Israel’s Channel 12.
The soldiers, among five still detained over sexual abuse allegations at Israel’s Sde Teiman facility, denied committing or covering up an act of sexual assault during the polygraph examination, but the examiner deemed their responses deceptive, said the report.
The allegations against the reservists have divided Israeli society, with a group of far-right activists storming the facility they were held at last week demanding their release.
Israelis continue to protest detention of soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian prisoner
Israelis are demonstrating in front of the military court at the Beit Lid base in the centre of the country, to protest the continued detention of five reserve soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman prison in the Negev desert.
Last week, dozens of Israeli protesters, including far-right members of the Knesset, clashed with military police after at least nine soldiers suspected of abusing a Palestinian prisoner were detained for questioning.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said the demonstration comes ahead of the start of a court hearing on the third extension of the detention of the five soldiers.
Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “This is the state of the Jews and it precedes democracy” and called for the release of the accused soldiers.
As Israel experiences yet another violent demonstration outside one of its military bases, opposition leader Yair Lapid has taken to X to condemn the country’s government, saying it “harms the functioning of the army and endangers national security”.
