Gaza detainee tortured to death at Israel’s Sde Teiman facility

A Palestinian detainee from Gaza died of torture at the notorious Sde Teiman detention centre in southern Israel, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.

“Omar Junaid was one of scores of Gazan detainees who died of torture in Israeli prisons,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement yesterday.

According to the statement, Junaid was arrested along with his brother by Israeli forces on 24 December 2023.

While his brother was released four months later, Junaid was pronounced dead on 17 June by Israeli group the HaMoked Centre for the Defence of the Individual.

According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since 7 October, including about 48 people from Gaza.

On Sunday, an Israeli military court extended the detention of five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee from Gaza at Sde Teiman.

Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights reports have recently indicated that detainees from Gaza have been tortured at the detention facility, which has led to the death of dozens.

In May, CNN exposed gruesome details of abuse, torture and mistreatment of Palestinians from Gaza in the detention facility with doctors speaking to the news organisation about the torture inflicted on detainees. Released prisoners have accused medical staff at the facilities of taking part in humiliating and torturing inmates.

READ: Intensified torture of Palestinian prisoners amid absolute impunity, UN experts warn