48 Palestinians from Gaza tortured to death by Israel

Forty-eight Palestinian detainees from Gaza have been tortured to death while held in custody by the Israeli army, Haaretz has reported. The army is reportedly conducting criminal investigations into the deaths.

The newspaper quoted an army source as saying that 36 of the victims died inside the Sde Teiman detention centre established in the Negev Desert by the army specifically for detainees from Gaza.

Another twelve prisoners faced compelling detention circumstances that led to their death, including extreme exhaustion, psychological pressure, and physical torture in other detention centres established by the army within Gaza before being transferred to prisons inside Israel.

According to Haaretz, military police have launched dozens of criminal investigations covering soldiers’ conduct, including cases that include suspected looting, weapons theft, violence and insubordination. No charges, however, have been filed yet in the cases involving the killing of Palestinians in custody.

READ: Report: Number of journalists killed in Gaza rises to 150

Meanwhile, a statement by the Government Media Office in Gaza indicated that the Israeli army has arrested about 5,000 Palestinians from the enclave since the start of its ruthless war on the besieged Strip. The fate of many of them or the conditions of their detention are still unknown.

After launching the ground invasion of Gaza on 27 October last year, the Israeli army divided the Palestinian territory into 2,300 “security zones” with the aim of tightening control over the entrances and exits of all areas. A tight siege has been imposed on the zones, using the air force and drones which shoot every moving object on sight.

The army sets up mobile checkpoints known as “halls” for citizens to pass through after inspecting them “almost naked” and then selects young men in particular for interrogation. On both sides of the checkpoints, the army has established temporary detention sites including schoolyards, hospitals or football fields, to segregate the prisoners into males and females, with routinely degrading and humiliating treatment.

Psychological warfare against detainees is also routine, it is alleged, whereby they are isolated completely from their surroundings. They are also used as human shields in front of military convoys in an attempt to discourage the Palestinian resistance groups from targeting them. Detainees are said to be forced to remain in a “squatting” position for long hours, handcuffed and blindfolded, regardless of their age or health conditions.

READ: Palestinian resistance has become global struggle against oppressors, says Turkish FM