Palestinian prisoners released by Israel this week show signs of “appalling” torture, starvation and medical neglect brought on by imprisonment, reports say, underscoring the ongoing need for international intervention to stop Israel’s abuses against its detainees.
Israel freed over 600 prisoners on Thursday after delaying their release for days, threatening the integrity of the ceasefire. Like many of the prisoners released prior to this, they were emaciated and had severe injuries, including amputated limbs.
Prisoners also personally reported being tortured and beaten while in prison, with their accounts lining up with findings of Israel’s systemic torture and physical and mental abuses against Palestinians in detention. Many of these prisoners were not charged with a crime, as Israel regularly detains Palestinians without cause. Israel has killed at least 60 detainees and prisoners since October 7, 2023.
One Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Tawila, released from Israeli detention last week, had severe burns after Israeli soldiers poured acid and other chemicals on him, he said. Acid also entered his eye, potentially injuring it permanently.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that Israel’s treatment of detainees “exceed[s] all legal and moral bounds,” with some of the prisoners released this week needing immediate medical attention due to their condition.
“[T]he atrocities occurring in these prisons are among the worst violations recorded by human rights organisations worldwide,” the group said. The torture, it said, “is a part of Israel’s crime of genocide, which aims to destroy the Palestinian people in the Strip, either entirely or partially, by weakening the foundations of their survival and leading them to submission or extinction.”
Disturbingly, prisoners were released wearing clothing printed with a biblical passage that calls for Palestinians to be “destroyed,” in what is a clear incitement of genocide, Euro-Med Monitor said.
The clothes said, “I will pursue my enemies and overtake them; I will not return until I have destroyed them,” in reference to Psalm 18:37 — a statement that “expressly calls for killing and genocide,” the group said.
This is apparently part of a campaign by Israeli officials to use the prisoner releases — which are part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement — to further incite violence against Palestinians. The clothing was reportedly created by Israeli Prison Service chief Kobi Yaakobi, who also prepared bracelets that said, “The eternal people do not forget. I will pursue my enemies and overtake them.”
Last week, prisoners were released wearing T-shirts that said, “We will not forget and we will not forgive,” in Arabic.
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