Prisoners say Israel – said to repair the infamous SDE Teiman prison – only moved alleged abuse
Under the pressure of the highest court of Israel to improve the conditions in the plant known for the harassment of Palestinians seized in Gaza, the army transferred hundreds of detainees to the newly opened camps.
But abuse in these camps were equally bad, according to Israeli human rights organizations that interviewed dozens of current and former detainees and now seek the same court to force the army to solve the problem once and for all.
What shows the testimony of the detainees, say groups for the right is that instead of correcting alleged abuse against Palestinians without charges or trials – including beating, excessive foxes and bad nutrition and health care – the Israeli army has just moved where they are taking place.
“What we saw is the erosion of the basic standards for humane detention,” said Jessica Montell, director Hamoked, one of the groups of rights that begged the Israeli government.
Asked for an answer, the army announced that it was in accordance with international law and “completely rejects the allegations of systematic abuse of prisoners.”
The widespread camp and smaller camp Anatot, both built on the west coast, were to solve the groups for problems documented in the detention center in the Negev desert called SDE Teiman. This place was to be temporarily held and treated with militants trapped during Hamas on October 7, 2023, an attack on Israel. But he moved to the long -term detention center, the infamous because of the brutal Palestinians rounded in Gaza, often without charges.
Prisoners transferred to Ofer and Anatot say the conditions were no better, according to more than 30 who were talked by Hamoked lawyers and human rights doctors (PHRI). Associated Press is the first international news organization to report the PHRI statements.
“They would punish you for anything,” said Khaled Al Serr, 32, a gauze surgeon who spent months at the Ofer camp for months and agreed to talk about his experiences. He was released after six months without charges.
Dr. Khaled Al Serr released Israeli forces on September 29 after spending more than six months in Israeli prisons. The 32-year-old surgeon, who works at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza, said he was questioned, humiliated and beaten only to be suddenly released last week without any charges.
Al Serr said he had lost the number of beating to the soldiers after being rounded off in March last year during a raid to Nasser Hospital at Khan Younis. “You would be punished for making eye contact, to seek the drug, to look at the sky,” Al Serr said.
The accounts of other detainees in the groups for rights remain anonymous. Their accounts could not be confirmed independently, but their testimony – days separately – were similar.
The Supreme Court gave the army until the end of March to respond to alleged abuse in the Ofer.
Leaving SDE Teiman
Ever since the war began, Israel has seized thousands in Gaza for which he doubts ties with Hamas. Thousands are also released, often after months of custody.
Hundreds of detainees were released during a ceasefire that began in January. But with ground operations recently launched in Gaza, arrests continue. The army will not say how many detainees there are.
After the Supreme Court of Israel ordered better treatment on SDE Teiman, the army announced in June that hundreds of detainees were reported, including 500 sent offers.
Ofer was built on an empty plot next to a civil prison of the same name. Satellite photos from January show paved, wall joint, with 24 mobile houses that serve as cells.
Anatot, built on a military base in a Jewish settlement, has two barracks, each with a space for about 50 people, Hamoked.
According to the Israeli law, the army can keep Palestine from Gaza for 45 days without access to the outside world. In practice, many go far longer.
Whenever the detainees met with lawyers, they “violently” dragged into a cell – sometimes barefoot and often tied to the eyes, and their hands and feet remained environment during the meeting, the Rights Group said in a letter to the military advocate.
“I don’t know where I am,” one prisoner told the lawyer.
The newly liberated hostages of Israel spoke about their own difficult conditions in Gaza. Eli Sharabi, who came out after 15 months of captivity, said Israel’s news Channel 12 news that his kidnappers said that on hostage conditions they influenced the treatment of Israel to Palestinian prisoners.
Prisoners cite regular beating
Al Serr said he was held by 21 others from Gaza in a 40 -square -foot station with eight bunk beds. Some slept on the floor on the camping mattresses, the soldiers were pierced that they could not inflate, he said. The banging and ears were furious. He said he was allowed outside his cell only once a week.
Ofer and Anatota prisoners said they were regularly beaten with fists and sticks. Some said they had been holding them in foxes for months, including while they were sleeping and ate – and unaccustomed only when allowed to take a shower once a week.
The photo of Ibrahim Salema in SDE Teiman prison in the Negev desert in Israel became viral after leaking into CNN and spread to social media. Salem says that standing on a fence with his hands raised while he was seen working in a photo, was a form of punishment he had endured during his 52 -day custody at a military basis, turned to the prison.
Three prisoners held in Anatota told lawyers that they were constantly connected to the eyes. One Anatota Nazi said that the soldiers woke them up every hour during the night and made them stand for half an hour.
In response to AP questions, the army said she was not aware of the claim that the soldiers had awakened the detainees. The detainees said they had a regular approach to the showers and that they were allowed a daily yard. It was said that occasionally overcrowding means that some detainees are forced to sleep on “mattresses on the floor”.
The army announced that Anatot had closed in early February, as it was no longer needed for a “short -term prison” when other facilities were full. SDE Teiman, which is upgraded, is still used.
Nutrition and health care
Alserr said the worst thing in the offer was medical care. He said the guards refused to give him anthacide for chronic ulcer.
After 40 days, he felt the rupture. In a truck that went to the hospital, the soldiers tied his bag around his head.
“They beat me all the way to the hospital,” he said. “In the hospital, they refused to remove the bag, even when they treated me.”
The army said that all detainees were given examinations and appropriate medical care. It said that “long -term restraint during custody” was used only in exceptional cases and considering the condition of each detainee.
Many detainees complained about hunger. They said they received three meals a day several slices of white bread with a cucumber or tomato and sometimes some chocolate or cream.
This amounts to about 1,000 calories a day – or half of what is necessary, said Lihi Joffe, an Israeli pediatric dietitian who read some of Ofer’s testimonies and called his diet “not humane.”
After the groups for the real complained in November, Joffe said she saw new menus menus with greater variety, including potatoes and Falafel – which is improvement, she said, but still not enough.
The army said the nutritionist approves the meals of the detainee and that they always have access to water.
Punished for seeing a lawyer
For two months in his custody, Al Serr had a five -minute video conference with the judge, who said he would remain in prison in the foreseeable future.
Such hearing is “systematically” short, according to Nadia Daqqa, lawyers with tortured. No lawyers are present and the detainees should not talk, she said.
A few months later, but Serra was allowed to meet with a lawyer. But he said he was forced to kneel for hours for hours.
The second detainee told the lawyer of the human rights doctor to undergo the same punishment. “The whole time is threatening to take away his life,” the lawyer wrote in notes attached to the statement.
Since release in September, Al Serr has returned to work at a hospital in Gaza.
The memories are still painful, but care for patients helps again, he said. “I’m starting to forget … to feel like a human being again.”
