Dozens of Palestinians who have been held in Israeli prisons and detention centers since the beginning of the war in Gaza describe experiences of torture, sexual abuse, violence, humiliation, starvation and denial of adequate medical treatment, according to a new report published on Monday evening, August 5, by Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

The report, titled “Welcome to Hell”, is based on 55 testimonies from former detainees from the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and citizens of Israel, who were detained in Israeli prisons since the Oct. 7 deadly attack on Israel that set off the war, most of them held without being tried.  “The testimonies clearly indicate a systematic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,” the report said. The report was issued days after the Israeli military detained nine soldiers accused of severe abuse of a prisoner in Sde Teiman, a military base in the Negev. The soldiers are accused of sexually abusing a member of the Hamas.

Israeli human rights activists during a demonstration at Sde Teiman, April 2024 (Photo: Free Jerusalem)

B’Tselem detailed allegations that Palestinian prisoners were subjected to arbitrary beatings, degrading and humiliating treatment and sleep deprivation, as well as “the repeated use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of severity”. “The overall picture indicates abuse and torture carried out under orders, in utter defiance of Israel’s obligations both under domestic law and international law,” the report said. B’Tselem said the treatment accorded to prisoners was a deliberate policy implemented under the direction of the racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“Thousands of Palestinians are being held in inhuman conditions and subjected to relentless abuse,” Yuli Novak, B’Tselem executive director, said. “Some do not know why they were arrested; many will be released without trial. This is the definition of a torture camp: a place that once you enter – no matter who you are or why you were arrested – you will be subjected to severe, deliberate, relentless pain and suffering.” Novak said the government “cynically exploited our collective trauma” caused by the Hamas-led 7 October attack to employ the “racist, violent agenda” of Ben-Gvir, who oversees prison authorities.  “This government has driven us to an all-time moral low, proving again its utter disregard for human lives – of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, of Israelis and Palestinians living through ongoing war, and of the Palestinians held in torture camps,” Novak added. 

Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs, reiterated a call for an international commission of inquiry into the treatment of prisoners to hold Israel accountable. “We have documentation of the crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian detainees in its prisons and we have horrific testimonies of what detainees are subjected to, whether related to torture, rape and other crimes,” he said.

The full report in English (119 pages):

https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell_eng.pdf