Palestinian abductees tell of brutality, rape in Israel's ‘torture’ jails

Palestinians abducted from the Gaza Strip during the relentless genocidal war perpetrated by the Israeli regime have exposed the sexual violence and brutality inflicted by Israeli forces in “torture” jails in the occupied territories, according to a report by British media.

Britain’s online newspaper, The Independent, citing autopsy reports and sworn testimonies, said the Palestinian abductees had suffered various forms of torture, including violent assault, sexual violence, lack of access to medical care, and sleep deprivation since the regime’s aggression on Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023.

The paper underlined that the graphic revelation came not from the victims of the Tel Aviv regime’s brutality but from the Israeli military’s own indictment against its soldiers.

“Bruises were seen over the left chest, with broken ribs and chest bones underneath,” read an autopsy report about a Palestinian held in Megiddo prison, north of the occupied territories, who died on November 13, 2023.

“External bruises were also seen on the back, buttocks, left arm and thigh, and right side of the head and neck.”

In another, a 45-year-old man who died in December 2024 while incarcerated at Kishon jail north of the Israeli-occupied territories bore “multiple signs of physical assault and excessive use of restraints were noted, likely causing traumatic intracranial bleeding.”

His right leg was swollen and both wrists and ankles had marks of tight restraints, the report found.

The report quoted an Israeli physician who has overseen multiple autopsies of Palestinian detainees on behalf of their families as saying, “The fact that we see some signs of abuse means that this is probably the tip of the iceberg.”

Declining to give his name for security reasons, the physician said he had attended the post-mortem of a man in his thirties who died in detention in the occupied West Bank in October 2023, adding that he had broken ribs and a lacerated spleen, “implying blunt force trauma.”

The report went on to say that much of the Israeli regime’s abuse occurred in two detention centers, including a new military facility within the Ofer prison in the West Bank and the Sde Teiman military base south of the Israeli-occupied territories.

In Sde Teiman, Israeli soldiers were reported by The Independent to have played endless, deafeningly loud rave music in a special detention room nicknamed the “disco.”

“The trance music is meant to psychologically weaken you before the investigation,” explained Mohamed R, 38, arrested at a checkpoint in northern Gaza.

Ahmed A, 59, an engineer abducted in Khan Younis in February, taken to Sde Teiman and released a month later, said he had been left in a room with music blaring for two and a half nights.

“You had to lie on the floor,” he said. “You were not allowed to stand or go to the bathroom, and some people urinated on themselves.”

Palestinians subjected to ‘severe torture’ under Israeli detention: Euro-Med

Euro-Med says the terrible health conditions in which Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons indicate a pattern of torture and abuse until the very last moments.

Mustafa H, 41, who was held in Sde Teiman, said, “Every meter you moved, they beat you, they hit you, they insulted you, they used dogs, teargas, and electric shock.”

He, who had no idea about the fate of one of his brothers also detained, added that, “Some people lost their hearing because blood came out of their ears because of the electric shocks.”

The report also underlined that one area of abuse involved concerns about the Israeli regime’s withholding of medical care from Palestinian abductees.

The paper cited the post-mortem report for the family of Mohammed al-Sabbar, who died in Ofer prison in February last year, as showing that his intestines nearly exploded.

The 20-year-old had Hirschsprung’s disease, which means the large intestine’s function is defective due to nerve function, which requires a very specific diet, enemas, and medicine.

Sabbar was denied medical care, according to the report, and in the end, the intestine was so enlarged it pressured the other stomach organs, damaging the function of the kidneys and lungs and stopping blood flow.

“The stomach CT clearly showed a humongous, large intestine (15cm) filled with faeces … with signs of necrosis,” the document read.

It concluded that his death could have been “prevented had his medical needs been given special consideration, and had he been given urgent medical assistance upon the appearance of early symptoms.”

The damning report by The Independent is one of multiple stories of Israeli torture against Palestinian detainees being held by the regime since the Gaza war began.

Earlier in the month, the UN said the Israeli forces use sexual violence as a “method of war,” stressing, “Sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and violence to the genitals, were committed either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel’s top civilian and military leadership.”

The Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas in January, given the illegal entity’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

The 42-day first stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023.

The regime has massacred over 50,200 Palestinians and injured at least 114,000 others since, according to the health ministry.

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