Palestinian rights group calls for closure of ‘Israeli torture camps’

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights says 2,650 Palestinians taken from Gaza since October remain in Israeli custody.

Palestinian detainees are enduring severe physical and psychological torture in Israeli facilities, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights has said, calling for accountability for the abuses.

The prisoners “have been exposed naked to the scorching sun while standing on sharp gravel stones, subjected to verbal abuse, and threatened with rape, death, and bombing, along with threats against their families”, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The rights group said that recent testimony and evidence “reveal a level of violence that resounds with the atrocities documented in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib”, referring to the United States-run detention facility in Cuba and the prison in Iraq where US soldiers abused detainees.

Al Mezan said that the detainees have also been “deprived of food, water, sleep, and access to sanitation for extended periods, all while facing extremely harsh living conditions”.

The group estimated at least 2,650 Palestinians taken from the Gaza Strip after October 7 remain in Israeli custody, including 12 children and two women.

Among them, approximately 300 are facing trials, while 2,350 are classified as “unlawful combatants” without a defined detention period or specific charges.

Al Mezan said the torture has resulted in several deaths but there was no definitive record of the total number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club disclosed the full identities of 22 Palestinians who died as a result of torture or medical negligence.

“The targeting of Palestinian residents of Gaza appears to be part of a broader pattern of abuse, consistent with the crime of genocide,” according to Al Mezan.

The findings echo reports by the United Nations and other rights groups who have denounced the widespread abuse.

Footage recently broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 shed light on the sexual abuse inflicted on Palestinian detainees, drawing international condemnation and confirming numerous witness accounts.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report last month detailing how Palestinians imprisoned since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the current conflict had faced torture and mistreatment.

“Some detainees said dogs were released on them, and others said they were subjected to waterboarding, or that their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling. Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence,” the report said.

In a report titled Welcome to Hell, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem presented testimonies from 55 Palestinians, including 21 from the Gaza Strip, who had been held in Israeli prisons.

The violations they recounted included “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation”.

B’Tselem said at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7, including about 48 people from Gaza.

It called on the International Criminal Court to investigate “individuals suspected of planning, directing and committing these crimes”, saying the probe was not possible inside Israel “since all state systems, including the judiciary, have been mobilised in support of these torture camps”.