A report by Amnesty International spoke of “horrific” cases of torture and humiliating Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, amid an escalation in the pace of arbitrary arrests, and a remarkable expansion of Tel Aviv’s use of administrative detention.
The organization said that since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, Israeli forces have arrested more than 2,200 Palestinian men and women, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. It quoted the Israeli human rights organization “HaMoked” as saying that between the first of last October and the first of this November, the total number of Palestinians detained in administrative detention, without charge or trial, rose from 1,319 to 2,070.
The organization confirmed that the testimonies of released detainees and human rights lawyers, in addition to video clips and photos, illustrate some forms of torture and other forms of ill-treatment to which prisoners were subjected at the hands of Israeli forces during the past four weeks.
These violations include severe beatings, stripping, and humiliating detainees, forcing them to keep their heads down, kneeling on the ground while counting prisoners, and singing Israeli songs.
Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, “Over the course of last October, we witnessed a significant increase in Israel’s use of administrative detention – detention without charge or trial that can be renewed indefinitely – which was already at the highest level.” “He had it for 20 years before the recent escalation.”
According to the organization, “Administrative detention is one of the basic tools used by Israel to impose an apartheid regime against the Palestinians.”
Heba Morayef added that testimonies and video evidence “also point to numerous incidents of torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of Israeli forces, including severe beatings and deliberate humiliation of Palestinians detained in miserable conditions.”
The organization recalled that, over decades, it has documented widespread torture at the hands of the Israeli authorities in places of detention throughout the West Bank. She added that the past four weeks have witnessed video clips and photos being widely circulated online showing horrific scenes of Israeli soldiers beating and insulting Palestinians while detaining them blindfolded, stripping them of their clothes and with their hands tied, in a horrific scene of torture and humiliation.
