IDF forces are accused of beating and torturing captured Palestinians

Release time：2024-05-21 12:03:30 Source：International Issue news portal

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has been accused of beating Palestinians captured in Gaza, including UN staff, and subjecting them to extreme sexual violence.

Israeli soldiers allegedly held detainees in cages, deprived them of food, water and sleep and tortured them during interrogation.

A disturbing United Nations report was published on Tuesday following extensive interviews with Palestinian prisoners returning to Gaza.

It documents torture and humiliation faced by Palestinians of all ages, genders and backgrounds held in makeshift detention facilities across Israel.

But the claims are fiercely contested by Israel, which accuses the released prisoners of lying and claims many of those at UNRWA, the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees, are complicit in Hamas terror.

The IDF forces have been accused of beating and torturing captured Palestinians - including UN staff

A disturbing United Nations report published on Tuesday claimed that released Palestinians alleged they were forced to drink toilet water, were attacked by dogs and faced threats that their relatives would be killed

Israeli authorities released over 150 Palestinian detainees on Monday morning after they had been captured in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

The detainees were delivered to Kerem Shalom, a crossing on the border of Egypt, Israel and Gaza.

The devastating UNRWA report is based on the information obtained as a result of the group's role carrying out humanitarian aid at the crossing point. 

Released Palestinians allege they were forced to drink toilet water, were attacked by dogs and faced threats that their relatives would be killed, according to the UN report.

A man quoted in the report said no one was immune to the grave ill-treatment.

'I saw people [in detention] 70 years old, very old. There were people with Alzheimer's, old people who were blind, people with disabilities who couldn't walk, people who had shrapnel in their backs and couldn't stand up, people with epilepsy… and torture was for everyone. 

'Even for people who didn't know their own names,' said the 46-year-old.

'We told them that someone was blind. They didn't care.'

Another man, aged 41, also quoted in the report, said he was sexually violated with a hot metal rod. 

He said he was also beaten with shoes and watched as other detainees succumbed to their injuries.

The UN also said there is 'clear and convincing information' of rape and sexualised torture being committed against hostages seized during Hamas's terror attack on October 7

A truck carrying humanitarian aid arrives for processing at the Kerem Shalom (Karm Abu Salem) border crossing on April 15

'There were people who were detained and killed – maybe nine of them. One of them died after they [sexually violated him].'

The men are among the 1,506 detainees whose release from Israeli authorities' custody as they returned to Gaza was documented in the period until April 4 by UNRWA, which Israel has accused of employing members of militant groups in Gaza.

In response, UNRWA has accused Israel of using torture and ill-treatment of its detained staffers to give false confessions about the links between the agency, Hamas and the October 7 attack on Israel.

Among the documented released detainees, are 43 children and 84 women.

'They pulled us, beat us, they took us in the bus to the Damon prison after five days,' said a 34-year-old woman quoted in the report.

'A male soldier took o­ff our hijabs and they pinched us and touched our bodies, including our breasts. We were blindfolded and we were feeling them touching us, pushing our heads to the bus.'

A Palestinian woman's claim that she was raped in Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza by IDF soldiers at the end of last month was debunked following investigations by Hamas.

However, UN experts said in February they had seen 'credible allegations' that Palestinian women and girls in Israeli detention had been subjected to sexual assaults, including rape.

A Palestinian woman's claim that she was raped in Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza (pictured) was debunked last month 

An inside view of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

The UN has also said there is 'clear and convincing information' of rape and sexualised torture being committed against hostages seized during Hamas's terror attack on October 7.

According to the UN report, Palestinian detainees were 'transported by trucks to what appeared to be large makeshift 'military barracks' housing between 100 to 120 people, where they were held incommunicado in between periods of interrogation, sometimes for several weeks'.

There is also an account of a nail gun being used on a detainee's knee, subjecting prisoners to humiliating acts such as being made to behave like animals and prolonged use of tightly locked handcuffs that caused serious injuries. 

Several detainees said they were forced into cages and attacked by dogs. 

Some, including a child, had dog bite wounds on their body, says the report.

The majority of males, including children, report being stripped down to their underwear. 

Meanwhile, both men and women said they were forced to strip naked in front of male soldiers during searches, as well as being photographed and filmed.

One female detainee revealed: 'They asked the soldiers to spit on me, saying ‘she is a b****, she is from Gaza.’ 

'They were beating us as we moved and saying they would put pepper on our sensitive parts'.

The IDF spokesperson's office told the Daily Mail mistreatment of detainees 'violates IDF values and contravenes IDF orders and is therefore absolutely prohibited'.

'The IDF is fighting a murderous terrorist organisation […] which is conducting an information and psychological warfare in which it lies and invents false narratives that have no factual basis,' it said, adding that people returning to Gaza faced pressure from Hamas to speak out against Israel.

The IDF said it acts in accordance with Israeli and international law to protect detainees in its custody, ensuring all have adequate clothes, blankets, food and water, as well as conducting health checks.

'The detainees are not deprived of sleep and there is no music played in the IDF detention facilities,' it said.

It said it was investigating deaths of detainees, as is procedure, but is unable to share findings while investigations are pending.

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