Prisoners of Gaza, horrific testimonies of the atrocities in occupation prisons

Brutal torture, deprivation of food, medicine and most basic human rights as well as many other crimes, committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian prisoners, especially those detained in Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israeli aggression, have resulted in the martyrdom of dozens. These crimes have been committed in flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law and complete disregard for all international conventions and treaties, amid absence of action by the international community to stop the occupation’s violations that have reached unprecedented levels.

The testimonies of the prisoners released from the Gaza Strip are shocking and horrific, as their bodies that have lost a lot of weight, as their wounds caused by the occupation’s gunfire or deeply incised by the shackles on their hands and feet, and as their deteriorating health that exposes the extent of the torture they were subjected to.

The prisoners spoke of the dehumanizing treatment they were subjected to in the occupation detention centers, including being shackled and blindfolded for long periods, being forced to strip naked repeatedly, being exposed to electrocution, systematic starvation, unleashing ferocious dogs on them, in addition to inviting a number of occupation officials and settlers to witness torture operations.

The director of the Shifa Medical Complex, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, was among the 50 prisoners released this morning. He said: “The situation of the prisoners is extremely tragic, as they live in very harsh conditions that have never been seen since the Nakba in 1948. The suffering is severe and the torture is daily, as there are many prisoners who were martyred under torture, in addition to the spread of diseases, which threatens the lives of those remaining in captivity.”

According to his brother, Rami Abu Mustafa, a young man with special needs, was detained by the occupation forces after he was injured in Rafah, and he returned to his family with torn entrails and loss of sight, his brother said. He stressed that Rami mainly suffers from mental disorders, but this did not prevent the occupation from torturing him.

“Rami returned to the Strip in a very difficult health condition as he suffers from a bullet wound in his leg and one of his eyes, and lost the sight in both of his eyes as a result of torture in prison, in addition to many fractures in his body, traces of abdominal surgery, and a severe tear in the intestines”, the brother added.

The occupation’s crimes did not stop there, as the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor documented that prisoners were forcibly injected with unknown substances, as Samir Marjan, the prisoner released on June 11, stressed.

Another captive indicated that many prisoners were martyred under torture, and the occupation soldiers placed their bodies in plastic bags and transported them to unknown places without anyone knowing anything about their identity.

From forced disappearance and torture to the occupation soldiers using prisoners as human shields in Gaza. Media outlets reported video clips showing the occupation forcing the prisoners to wear military clothing while using them as human shields. Another video showed a wounded prisoner being tied to the front of an occupation military vehicle during the storming of the city of Jenin.

The Palestinian resistance affirmed that the Nazi occupation’s use of Palestinian prisoners as human shields during its terrorist operations in Gaza and the West Bank is a full-fledged war crime, added to the record of crimes and violations to which prisoners are exposed in Nazi concentration camps.

It called on the international community to condemn this crime and the International Courts of Justice and Criminal Courts to add it to the file of war crimes for which occupation officials are being tried.

Minister in the occupation government, Itamar Ben Gvir, called yesterday for the execution of all prisoners, saying: “The prisoners should be shot in the head instead of giving them more food.”

These acts require the international community to take serious action to protect the prisoners and the Palestinian people and to stop their suffering and the comprehensive war of annihilation against them, in addition to imposing deterrent sanctions on Israel and obliging the countries supporting it to stop all forms of political, financial and military support provided to this entity.

Najla Khoury