According to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 2,650 Palestinians abducted in Gaza since October are still being held by Israel.
Palestinian detainees are subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in Israeli facilities, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said, calling for those responsible for the abuses to be held accountable.
The prisoners “were exposed naked to the burning sun, standing on sharp gravel, subjected to verbal abuse and threatened with rape, death and bombing, as well as threats against their families,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
The human rights organization said recent testimonies and evidence “reveal a level of violence that echoes the atrocities documented at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib,” referring to the U.S.-run detention center in Cuba and the prison in Iraq where American soldiers abused detainees.
Al Mezan said the detainees were also “deprived of food, water, sleep and access to sanitation for extended periods, while facing extremely harsh living conditions.”
The group estimates that at least 2,650 Palestinians abducted in the Gaza Strip after October 7 are still being held by Israel, including 12 children and two women.
Of these, around 300 are currently on trial, while 2,350 are labelled “illegal combatants” with no defined detention period or specific charges.
Al Mezan said torture had resulted in several deaths, but there was no definitive tally of the total number of Palestinians who had died in Israeli custody.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society has revealed the full identities of 22 Palestinians who died as a result of torture or medical neglect.
“The targeting of Palestinian residents of Gaza appears to be part of a broader pattern of abuse, consistent with the crime of genocide,” Al Mezan said.
The findings echo reports from the United Nations and other human rights groups that have denounced widespread abuses.
Footage recently broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 has shed light on sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees, sparking international condemnation and confirming the accounts of numerous witnesses.
The UN Human Rights Office released a report last month detailing how Palestinians imprisoned since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the current conflict have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment.
“Some detainees reported being subjected to dogs being released on them, others reported being subjected to waterboarding, or having their hands tied and suspended from the ceiling. Women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence,” the report said.
In a report titled Welcome to Hell, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem presented the testimonies of 55 Palestinians, including 21 from the Gaza Strip, who were held in Israeli prisons.
The violations they denounced included “frequent acts of serious and arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; imposed unsanitary conditions; sleep deprivation.”
According to B’Tselem, at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7, including about 48 people from Gaza.
She called on the International Criminal Court to investigate “the individuals suspected of planning, directing and committing these crimes,” saying that the investigation was not possible in Israel “since all state systems, including the judicial system, have been mobilized to support these torture camps.”
