Israel is subjecting Palestinian detainees to violent beatings and humiliation before their release, according to a group that looks after the affairs of Palestinian prisoners.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said in a statement on Sunday that the majority of released Palestinians from Israeli-run prisons as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal are being subjected to “systematic torture days before their release”.
As per the Middle East Eye, in some of their most recent reports, the monitor group has noted severe forms of torture and abuse, including burning detainees with boiling water and urinating on them.
Zaghari said this was an “Israeli attempt to take revenge on them”, urging the mediators of the ceasefire agreement, the Red Cross team and other key players to ensure the safety and dignity of those freed while pressuring Israel to stop torturing them.
“The Red Cross must bear the responsibility of caring for the released prisoners and their dignity until they reach their places of residence, in the same way that it ensures the arrival of Israeli prisoners released from the Gaza Strip.
“There are horrific testimonies of prisoners being severely beaten before and after they were released from prison, especially prisoners who were released to the Gaza Strip,” Zaghari added, noting that most prisoners suffer from diseases, including scabies, as a result of the poor conditions they are detained in.
“[This is] evidence of the occupation’s mentality that is trying to break the image of the Palestinian prisoner and distort it in front of his people.”
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has also reported that most prisoners in Israeli-run prisons “suffer from fatigue, emaciation and weight loss.”
“There are prisoners who have fainted and no doctor or nurse comes to examine them and transfer them to the clinic,” it said.
