The New York Times published a report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip and their detention conditions, which may amount to torture, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.
The international organization estimates that thousands have been arrested and detained in “horrific” conditions, with some released wearing only diapers.
In the report, which was prepared by its correspondent in Jerusalem, Raja Abdel Rahim, the newspaper conducted interviews with a number of Palestinian detainees, during which they spoke about the ill-treatment they were subjected to at the hands of the Israelis.
Among them is a man named Ayman Labad who told the newspaper how Israeli soldiers armed with M-16 assault rifles surrounded him, arrested him almost naked, and forced him to kneel among dozens of Palestinian men and boys, who were taken from their homes in northern Gaza.
It was early December, and photographs and videos taken at the time showed Labad and other detainees in the street wearing only their underwear and being held in rows surrounded by Israeli soldiers.
In one of the video clips, a soldier appeared shouting at the queuers through a loudspeaker, “We are occupying all of Gaza? Do you want that? Do you want Hamas with you? Don’t tell me that you are not from Hamas?”
The detainees – some of whom appeared barefoot and with their hands on their heads – responded in their loudest denial.
The New York Times says that Palestinian detainees from Gaza were stripped of their clothes, and were subjected to beatings, interrogations, and solitary confinement for 3 months, according to the accounts of the detainees themselves or their relatives.
Organizations representing Palestinian prisoners and detainees presented similar accounts in a report accusing Israel of detaining civilians randomly without discrimination, and treating detainees in a humiliating manner that degrades their dignity.
The American newspaper reported that the Israeli forces that invaded the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack on October 7, arrested thousands of men, women and children.
These forces forced some to leave their homes and arrested them, and took others with their families as they fled on foot in search of a safe place after the Israeli authorities ordered them to leave.
Pictures taken by journalists from Gaza showed newly released detainees receiving treatment in hospitals, with scars and wounds around their wrists due to the shackles with which they were shackled, sometimes for weeks.
In response to questions from The New York Times, the Israeli military said it arrests those suspected of involvement in “terrorist” activity and releases those who are acquitted.
He added that the Israeli authorities treat detainees in accordance with international law. He claimed – while defending his forced men and boys to take off their clothes – that this was done “to ensure that they are not hiding explosive vests or other weapons.”
However, human rights defenders refute these allegations by the Israeli army, as they were quoted as saying that Israel’s arrest of Palestinians in Gaza and its humiliating treatment of them may be considered a violation of international laws.
A recent report by several Palestinian human rights groups, including the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association and Conscience, stated, “Since the beginning of the Israeli bombing and ground invasion in Gaza, the Israeli army has arrested hundreds of Palestinians in a barbaric and unprecedented manner, and published photos and videos showing the inhumane treatment of detainees.”
The report continued, “Israel has so far concealed the fate of detainees from Gaza, has not revealed their numbers, and has prevented lawyers and the Red Cross from visiting them.”
The spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hisham Muhanna, said that his organization receives daily reports from families in Gaza about detained family members. He added that the organization is working to treat about 4,000 cases of Palestinians from Gaza who have disappeared, and nearly half of them are believed to be detained by the Israeli army.
Photos and videos taken by Israeli soldiers and journalists accompanied by the army showed Palestinians with their hands tied behind their backs, sometimes blindfolded and wearing underwear, kneeling outdoors in the winter.
Ayman Labad, an activist at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, said that his detention lasted for a week, “and we did not know what awaited us,” adding that he was not interrogated until days later after he was transferred to another detention center in Jerusalem.
Another former detainee, Magdy El-Derini, a 40-year-old father of four, said he was detained for 40 days with his hands shackled almost the entire time, and the shackles around his wrists created wounds that eventually became infected.
He also said that Israeli soldiers arrested him in mid-November while he and his family were walking towards the south of the Gaza Strip, after they had left their homes following orders to evacuate them.
He added, “They treated us like animals. They used to beat us with sticks and curse us.”
