Ramallah
The Israeli occupation pursued an unprecedented escalation in its crimes after the 7th of October in the Palestinian Territories, which reached the climax in comparison with the years that witnessed uprisings in Palestine. Nevertheless, this serious escalation constitutes an extension of the occupation’s approach based on the apartheid regime and ethnic cleansing to target the Palestinian presence, in the light of the mass aggression against Palestinians in all cities and genocide in Gaza.
The dreadful crimes of the Israeli occupation were on high levels of cruelty, where the systematic detention operations against all categories of the Palestinians society were one of the most prominent policies that reflected the level of grave crimes committed by the devices of the Israeli occupation, aiming at undermining any case of struggle seeking to establish the Palestinians right of self determination.
According to the documentation of detainees’ institutions ( Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Society Prisoner’s Club, Addameer Association for Human Rights and Wadi Hilweh Center) to the current situation imposed by the mass aggression, detention campaigns and retaliatory measures against detainees in Israeli prisons, this fact sheet reviews the most prominent crimes implemented in terms of these two issues.
Data on detention campaigns carried out by the occupation after the 7th of October
The Israeli forces implemented massive detention campaigns in the West Bank after the 7th of October, where more than (4000) arrest cases have been recorded, including cases of Jerusalem, and afflicted all categories of the Palestinian society, including (150) women and girls from Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem and the lands occupied in 1948, in addition to (255) children. Detention cases included detainees under arrest and liberated ones, where the highest rate of arrests was recorded in Hebron with more than one thousand cases, followed by Jerusalem.
Detention operations also included journalists, as (45) journalists have been arrested, including two from Gaza, where (32) of them are still held. Moreover, (14) members of the Palestinian Legislative Council have been arrested. Regarding the crime of administrative detention, the Israeli authorities issued (2100) orders of administrative detention after the 7th of October.
The military commander conducted many amendments on military orders in order to allow the army to implement widespread detention campaigns and facilitate the work of military courts.
He maintained the order that allows arresting a person for 8 days without submitting him to any judicial power, and prevents the detainee from meeting his lawyer for two days from the date of his arrest.
Later on, he amended article (33) to clarify that the period of 8 days means 192 hours from the date of signing the detention order, which gives more time to hold detainees before presenting them to court.
Regarding the figures of detainees from Gaza , who are distributed to three categories ( fighters, civilians who have been arrested in the 7th of October besides to workers who were arrested from different locations, and civilians who got arrested from Gaza during the ground invasion), the Israeli authorities refused to give information about them, in terms of their numbers, place of detention and health conditions, noting that at the beginning of the war they arrested thousands of Gazan workers, whether from the West Bank or the lands occupied in 1948. Some of them have been released, and the rest are still held, with no accurate information about their numbers.
However, detainees’ institutions were able to obtain information on women from Gaza, where (120) women have been arrested during the ground invasion, including elderly women and infants.
The number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons stands at (7800), including more than (2870) administrative detainees, in addition to (260) detainees who were classified as illegal fighters.
(240) Palestinian women and children have been liberated by an exchange deal on November, including (71) women and (169) children.
The Israeli occupation implements the most intensive crimes against detainees and their families since decades
Detainees’ Institutions documented tens of testimonies of liberated detainees, which reflected a high level of brutality and systematic crimes and violations, such as threats to shoot them, intense beating, field interrogation, threats to rape and use people as human shields. In addition, the Israeli forces implemented field executions during detention operations, besides the vandalism of citizens’ houses , confiscating belongings, cars, gold and electrical appliances, and exploding houses of detainees who still in prison.
These attacks and systematic crimes led to the injury of detainees and their families, where they tended to leave detainees without medical aid. Families' testimonies reflected many psychological effects appeared on members of the family, especially children, due to the brutal storm to their houses.
Detainees’ institutions documented filming detainees while torturing them by Israeli forces, where a video showed Israeli soldiers abusing civilians in a degrading manner after taking off their clothes and leaving them naked, in addition to videos showing the Israeli soldiers putting the Israeli flag on detainees while being handcuffed and blindfolded, where the majority of videos were filmed in Gaza.
Attached is a testimony of a detainee who was subjected to torture and a testimony of detainee’s relative
Detainee (G.G), 37, from Saeer/ Hebron, stated “the Israeli soldiers broke into my house in 3/12/2023 at 4:00 am, inspected the house and held my wife and children in a room. They told me that I’m keeping banned items, and searched the house but didn’t find anything. I asked them to let me wear the jacket because it is too cold outside but they refused, and then they blindfolded me and took me to military camp and the transferred me to Itzion detention center. They left me tied and lying on the ground all the time. I asked for water but they refused. They had beaten me intensively while being tied. Other detainees were with me, including a girl, who also was subjected to beat and we were able to hear her voice. Beating was focused on the ears and knees. When they released us they threaten that if we said anything about the beating we will be punished, and they forced us to sign that we were not subjected to beat. I had a bleeding in the ear and tears in the eardrum, bruises and raptures in my knee”.
The testimony of the wife of the detainee (M. G) from Hebron
“They broke into our house in 2/12/2023, searching for my husband, i was upstairs in the dawn, and we didn’t hear or feel anything when they stormed the house. They directed their weapons towards us and started to shout. I put the cover on my body and told them that I am not wearing properly, but they dragged the cover and tore it up. I took the cover again and put on my body, leaving my heart uncovered. A soldier hit me on the abdomen, my husband was handcuffed in front of me and a soldier was standing on my husband’s legs, and the other soldier stepping on his head. They destroyed the house belongings and started to interrogate me and my children. They broke the window of my room, and then brought two female soldiers with a dog and inspected me while being naked”.
Detainees from Gaza are facing anonymous fate (forcible hide) in the Israeli prisons
Since the beginning of the mass aggression and genocide in Gaza, besides the testimonies of liberated detainees from Ofer prison, it has been confirmed that terrible crimes committed against Gazan detainees.
Moreover, there are increasing fears on the field execution crime committed against them, especially after refusing to give any information on their figures, health conditions or places of detention, despite the continuous calls to the ICRC.
The most prominent information provided by liberated detainees from Ofer prison included detaining at least (320) detainees from Gaza in sections (23) and (25), where each section has the capacity of (120) persons. Moreover, liberated detainees stated that jailers implement terrible crimes against them such as asking detainees to bark before giving them food, and asking them to sing Israeli songs.
In accordance with data published by the IPS at the end of November, (260) Gazan detainees have been classified as illegal fighters. It is worth mentioning that the Israeli government tends to amend the law of illegal fighters since the beginning of the war in Gaza, the last of which is allowing to detain captives for 42 days before issuing the order of detention, and the judicial review of the order to be done after 45 days of signing the order, and preventing the detainee from meeting his lawyer for 80 days. The forcible hide of detainees constitutes a flagrant violation of the international law.
The Israeli occupation also amended the law of detention 1996, which applies on Gazan detainees who are subjected to interrogation in different centers, where the sentence of detainee is extended to 45 of interrogation and he is prevented from meeting his lawyer for 80 days, without any supervision by the court on the detention conditions or being subject to torture. There is no accurate number for detainees who are being interrogated.
In this context, the amendments on meeting lawyers' prevention are not only applied to Gazan detainees, but also to detainees from the lands occupied in 1948, where the prevention may last for 90 days.
The minister Ben Gvir had submitted a proposal to the head of the IPS, asking to transfer detainees from Gaza to Rakvit cells, located underneath the Nitsan Ramla prison, which is considered the worst and oldest prison.
The arbitrary administrative detention is an instrument of suppression and control over the Palestinian people
The Israeli authorities started to use the policy of administrative detention against Palestinians since the beginning of occupation, where tens of thousands persons have been arrested under the administrative detention.
The administrative detention allows detaining Palestinians without charge or trial, based on a confidential file, where neither the detainee nor his lawyer is allowed to check the file and know the reason of detention. The administrative detention could be renewed many times according to the Israeli military commands, where they issue an administrative detention order for six months. This kind of detention afflicted all categories of the Palestinian society, including university students, journalists, women, children, mothers, workers, and members of the legislative council, traders, lawyers' activists and former detainees.
The cases of administrative detention increased especially during uprisings, where the Israeli authorities tend to use it as a means of suppression and control over the Palestinians.
Administration detention orders are not limited to new orders, where the Israeli authorities tend to issue renewals for detainees who ended their sentences during uprisings.
For instance, during the first Intifada in 1989, the number of administrative detainees reached to (1700), and (1140) during the second Intifada in 2003.
With the beginning of aggression in the 7th of October, the Israeli authorities resorted to mounting massive campaigns of detention in the West Bank and Jerusalem, where (4000) arrest cases have been recorded; the majority of them are sentenced to administrative detention. There are currently (2870) administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, where there were (1320) administrative detainees before the 7th of October. It is worth mentioning that the number of administrative detainees is the highest since 1987.
The Israeli authorities issued a military command regarding extending the period of issuing the administrative detention to be 6 days (144) hours, and amended the period of judicial review to be 12 days (288) hours. This command applies to administrative detainees who have been arrested before the 7th of October and their sentences ends during the term of this command.
Intensive retaliatory measures fall within the crime of (collective punishment) imposed by the Israeli occupation against detainees
Since the continuous aggression in the 7th of October, the Israeli authorities and the IPS started to take revenge from detainees in Israeli prisons.
Tens of injuries were recorded among detainees who have been subjected to torture and abuse by Israeli Special Forces.
Torture took many forms, for example using the starvation technique, confiscating basic requirements such as electrical appliances, food, and clothing, and isolating detainees in small cells , where the Israeli authorities issued an order amending the law of prisons (emergency of prisons) , stipulating non- compliance with the space designated for each detainee. It also provides for the possibility of holding detainees without beds, and to provide twofold mattresses.
However, the IPS didn’t provide these mattresses and forced each two detainees to sleep on one mattress. They also intended to take the covers from detainees’ rooms despite the cold weather inside prisons.
Torture operations were concentrated in Negev prison, in addition to Jelboa, Megiddo and Ofer, as the Israeli authorities prevented the ICRC from visiting detainees in prisons in coincidence with preventing family visits and lawyers' visits.
The released child (w.m) said “the IPS started to impose restrictions against detainees in a brutal manner since the 7th of October, and started the incursions to detainees’ section in 30/10/2023, where the special forces broke into the section and beaten the majority of them on the head and different parts of the body until they get bleed and left without any medical assistance. They tended to spray pepper gas and moved us to a small narrow cell. Soldiers intended to humiliate us and deprived us of medical care, and the officer shouted at us when we asked for a doctor and said: let him die, that’s what we want.”
(W.M) added “the soldiers and the IPS were not content with beating and attacking us, but they confiscated all electric appliances and isolated us from the outside world. In addition, they closed the clinic and took all kitchen tools and food and only provided us with small meals bad in quantity and quality, besides to confiscating clothes and covers since the beginning of the aggression “.
Sick detainees were also included in torture and abuse measures, where they were subjected to suppression. A case in point is the disabled detainee Mansour Mouqadeh, who is detained since 2002, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was transferred from the clinic of Alramla prison to Ofer prison, and held him in tragic conditions which are not appropriate for his health condition. Moreover, they confiscated all his belongings,especially urine bags, clothes and covers which increased his tragic condition due to the cold weather.
Detainees and liberated detainees confirmed that they were subjected to attacks and systematic crimes by Special Forces in prisons.
Case in point is the detainee (M. S) in Ofer prison. He said “Nahshon special forces broke into our section in 16/11/2023, targeting 50 detainees, who were handcuffed and blindfolded and moved to have interviews with the Israeli Intelligence Service near Ofer prison. They forced us to sit in outside yard on the ground, and then suddenly they started to beat us with large batons, focusing the beats on the head, where they hit me on my head causing an injury. Thereafter, they took one by one to the interview with the intelligence officers.
Interviews lasted for 3 hours and then they transferred us back to prison, where the majority of us had injuries due to intense beat, and we didn’t receive medical assistance.”
6 Detainees martyred in Israeli prisons after the 7th of October
The IPS isolated tens of detainees after torturing them, where 6 detainees died inside the prisons after the aggression, amidst a complete secrecy without publishing any details on their martyrdom. The first detainee is Omar Daraghmeh, who died in 23/10/2023, then Arafat Hamdan in 24/10/2023, then Majed Zaqqul in 6/11/2023, tgen Abdulrahman Maree in 13/11/2023, then Thaer Abu Assab in 18/11/2023. The Israeli authorities didn’t publish the name of the sixth martyr, and only stated that he is from Gaza.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli authorities did autopsy to the martyr Abdulrahman Maree after 10 days of his martyrdom, in the presence of a doctor from Médecins sans frontie, where medical reports confirmed the presence of bruises and beat signs on his chest and different parts of his body.
According to many testimonies of liberated detainees from Negev prison, they confirmed on the crime of assassination against the detainee Thaer Abu Asab from Qalqilia, after beating him in a brutal manner and leaving him without medical care.
A testimony of the liberated detainee (M. Q), he said “we were ten detainees when they broke into the room at 6:0” pm, as jailers attacked all of us with intense beat. Thereafter, 20 jailers and members from (Keter) unit, (armed guards with iron batons) started to beat and attack all detainees for five minutes. All of us were bleeding and lying on the floor, and when they left we found the detainee Thaer Abu Assab bleeding on the ground without any pulse. We called the jailers but they didn’t respond, and then a nurse came after 10 minutes and said we will take him when he dies. After two hours they moved him out of the room and announced his martyrdom later.”
In conclusion, we call upon the free people around the world and human rights organizations and their governments to practice pressure against Israel and compel it to stop its crimes against detainees, and to stop its continuous violations of the international law and international humanitarian law and all ethical principles.
