Palestinians released from Israeli jails recount horrible ordeal

Some of the Palestinians released from Israeli jails have recounted their suffering due to inhuman treatment, beatings, insults and abuse at the hands of the regime’s jailers.

Israel has released some Palestinians from several jails. They had been taken away in the wake of the aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip since early October. 

The Palestinians were held without any charge. Arbitrary detention is used by Israel as a tool to persecute the Palestinians.

Severely damaged skin, signs of fatigue, unkempt hair and long beards was the state in which a number of Palestinians emerged from Israeli prisons.

Community activist Omar Assaf, 74, who was kidnapped on October 24 after his house in central Ramallah was stormed by the Israeli military, was among those released from Ofer Prison in recent days. “They constantly assaulted the prisoners with severe beatings, using batons, rifles, and heavy shoes," he said.

"There were prisoners with broken ribs and limbs without providing them with any treatment."

In January, while imprisoned, Assaf felt dizzy and fell to the ground, cutting his head and bleeding. He remained bedridden for two weeks without receiving any treatment. In March, he appeared in court and told the judge that he had been subjected to deliberate medical negligence.

"The judge tried to deny this, so he asked me: 'What could the jailers do for you?'" he said.

"I replied: 'I am not a doctor, but I know that the simplest first aid is to try to stop the bleeding by shaving the hair, applying bandages and medicine, then stitching the wound if necessary.'"

This was the 10th time Assaf had been arrested, but he says that it was the cruelest detention of all.

United Nations and human rights groups have documented widespread mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Last week, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) released a report detailing detainees being urinated on and made to act like animals, and children being attacked by dogs.

A researcher at the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies, Amina Al-Tawil, shared with media outlets some of the testimonies she had gathered from prisoners. She explained that the overwhelming majority of prisoners were beaten, humiliated and assaulted.

Some appeared to confirm an incident involving far-right extremist Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir, during a visit to Megiddo prison earlier this year.

During the visit, prisoners were taken out to the yard in front of him and beaten mercilessly. Then they were tied and forced to kneel, and he passed them one by one to confirm that they had been beaten. Some of them were bleeding.

“One of the prisoners looked up at Ben Gvir’s face, so a prison guard put out his cigarette in his eye, causing him to lose it,” she said.

Palestinian prisoner groups say the Israeli army has arrested more than 8,000 Palestinians from the West Bank alone since October 7, including 280 women and at least 540 children.

There has been a complete blackout on the treatment of Palestinian prisoners. The testimonies of Palestinian prisoners have horrified their families, and perhaps even more so the families of those with relatives still in jail.

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