‘They beat us morning and evening’: Palestinians detained by Israel describe mistreatment

Conditions have deteriorated radically since the Hamas attack on October 7, according to Palestinian detainees released from Israeli prisons during the truce. Since that date, Israeli prison authorities have “taken everything” from Palestinian prisoners, Ruba Assi, 23, who served more than two years in prison, said during his release a week ago as part of a Palestinian prisoner exchange. prisoners against the release of hostages taken by Hamas in Gaza during the attack.

On October 7, prison authorities announced in a press release a “state of emergency in the prison”: Palestinian prisoners were no longer allowed to leave their cells, and therefore visiting rooms, and were no longer allowed to shop or eat in the cafeteria. in cells and more frequent surprise searches. The Prisoners’ Club, a Palestinian non-governmental organization that compiles lists of detainees in the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied by Israel, is ensuring that visits by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegates cease. The ICRC has no comment.

Ruba Assi can compare. She was jailed for 21 months between 2020 and 2022 for “membership of an illegal organization,” a Marxist student movement calling for “the liberation of Palestine” and “throwing stones.” Then she left. At the height of the Gaza war, she was arrested again along with more than 3,580 other Palestinians, according to the Prisoners’ Club. According to the same source, there are approximately 7,800 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons today.

Humiliated prisoners

There, she said, she found completely different conditions: “in Damon prison,” in northeastern Israel, “seven of us slept in cells designed for three prisoners, on the floor, without a mattress or blanket, despite the cold , regardless of age. “We often went to bed without eating, and the portions we received were meager,” continues Ruba Assi. All the achievements of the decades-long struggle of Palestinian prisoners were nullified. »

Amnesty International claims to have “testimony and video evidence of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees, who were subjected to severe beatings, humiliation, including being forced to keep their heads bowed, kneel on the ground for roll call and sing songs of Israelis in appalling detention conditions.” . AFP was able to view the images.

Ramzi Abassi, a 36-year-old Palestinian activist from East Jerusalem who is widely followed on social media, was also released in exchange for Israeli hostages from Keziot prison in the Negev desert, known as the harshest. “They beat us morning and evening,” he accuses. After October 7, prisoners had their legs or arms broken and were not given any assistance. »

” Revenge “

According to him, this prison is “a cemetery for the living, prisoners live there without food, without clean clothes, they are left abandoned.” Prison officials contacted several times by AFP did not want to comment on the allegations. Amnesty also cites images widely circulated online showing “Israeli soldiers beating and humiliating Palestinian detainees while blindfolded, naked and with their wrists shackled.”

According to testimony from an East Jerusalem Palestinian collected by an NGO, detainees were forced to “praise Israel and insult Hamas.” “But even when the prisoner did this, they continued to beat him. » In a letter released from prison by one of the recently released Palestinians, addressed in particular to the ICRC and made public, the prisoners condemn the “revenge” by the Israeli authorities. This message recalls that since October 7, six prisoners have died in Israeli prisons. The prison administration responds that they were autopsied and died due to health conditions unrelated to the conditions of detention.

The issue of prisoners tormenting in the occupied territories returned to the forefront after Hamas seized some 240 hostages on October 7. Hamas and its allies, especially Islamic Jihad, which has hundreds of members in Israeli prisons, have repeatedly said that the hostages will be used as bargaining chips to “liberate” Israeli prisons from Palestinian prisoners.

During one week of truce, from November 24 to December 1, 240 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for 80 Israeli hostages. But as the Prisoners’ Club notes, hundreds of other Palestinians were imprisoned at the same time.