Haaretz newspaper confirmed yesterday, Sunday, that the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the authorities to clarify the conditions of detention of Gaza Strip prisoners in the Sde Teman detention center, in response to the petition submitted by human rights organizations demanding the closure of the prison.
The newspaper said that the court’s decision includes clarification of the type of food provided to detainees, treatment, methods of punishment used, and conditions of their restriction.
The newspaper quoted an Israeli lawyer as confirming that detaining detainees in Sde Teman detention center would amount to a war crime, adding that detaining detainees there “cannot continue for another minute.”
The Supreme Court made its decision despite the opposition of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is responsible for the Israeli Prison Service.
Closing the prison
Haaretz newspaper also reported that the Israeli authorities informed the Supreme Court at the beginning of this June that they would “reduce the activity of Sde Teman prison,” and later Israel announced that it would close the detention facility at the end of the month and transfer the detainees there to Israeli prisons or return them to Gaza, after the spread of reports confirming the violations. In detention.
According to the occupation authorities’ announcement, after its closure, the detention facility will operate as a “primary screening facility for security detainees from the Gaza Strip,” according to what the newspaper reported.
Serious violations
It is noteworthy that the occupation established the Sde Teman prison in the Negev following the war on the Gaza Strip on the seventh of last October under the pretext of arresting fighters from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). However, the Israeli army filled the prison with Palestinian civilians, most of whom were arrested from shelter centers and hospitals in Gaza.
The testimonies of the released Gazans confirm that they were subjected to various types of torture, from permanent handcuffs that left deep wounds, to the extent of cutting off the hands of some of them, preventing them from receiving treatment, as well as depriving them of food and drink.
Last December, Haaretz newspaper revealed the violations and torture to which detainees are subjected in Sde Timan prison, confirming that they remain blindfolded and are subjected to severe violence from interrogators and soldiers.
According to data allowed to be published by the occupation army, there are about 700 detainees in the prison, and the army also claims to be investigating the killing of 36 detainees in Sde Teman, most of whom were captured from the Gaza Strip.
