by Oui
Wed Feb 12th, 2025 at 03:32:46 PM EST
Dr. Abu Safiya Reports Torture and Severe Abuses in Israeli Custody; Al Mezan Calls for His Immediate Release
Gaza, 11 February 2025 - Today, after 47 days of arbitrary detention--during which Israeli authorities repeatedly denied him access to legal counsel--Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya met his lawyer for the first time since his abduction from Gaza. A Palestinian healthcare worker and director of
Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Abu Safiya was forcibly taken by Israeli forces on 27 December 2024 from the hospital in Beit Lahiya, along with several doctors, medical staff, patients, and other civilians.
Around 3 p.m. today, Al Mezan's lawyer visited Dr. Abu Safiya in Ofer Prison, located in the unlawfully occupied West Bank. During the visit, Dr. Abu Safiya detailed the various forms of torture and abuse to which he has been subjected both during his unlawful arrest and throughout his arbitrary detention by Israeli forces and authorities.
When he was captured from Gaza and transferred to the Sde Teiman military detention camp, he was subjected to various forms of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment--methods that are emblematic of Israeli mass arrest operations in Gaza.
He reported being forcibly stripped, having his hands tightly shackled, and being made to sit on sharp gravel for approximately five hours by Israeli forces. He was also subjected to severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest.
In Ofer Prison, where he was transferred on 9 January 2025, he was held in solitary confinement for 25 days--a period so prolonged as to constitute a form of torture in itself. During this time, he endured nearly continuous interrogation for 10 days. At one point, he lost consciousness in his cell due to severe breathing difficulties. During interrogation, Dr. Abu Safiya was confronted with accusations that he firmly denied, stressing that he is a doctor whose sole duty is to provide medical care to patients and the wounded.
"Sde Teiman is only the tip of the iceberg": Israeli detention centers turned into a network of torture camps for Palestinians | B'Tselem - 24 Aug. 2024 |
In a new report based on dozens of testimonies, B'Tselem reveals that since 7 October, Israel has instated a systemic policy of abusing and torturing thousands of Palestinians in its custody.
In "Welcome to Hell", a new report issued today, 5 August 2024, Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem showcases the testimonies of 55 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons and detention facilities in recent months, almost all without charges: 30 from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, 21 from the Gaza Strip, and four citizens of Israel.
The testimonies reveal that Palestinians currently in Israeli prisons are being subjected to harsh arbitrary violence on a frequent basis, sexual assault, humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation, forced lack of hygiene, sleep deprivation, restriction and punishment of religious worship, confiscation of all group and personal belongings, and denial of adequate medical care. This is the outcome of the speedy conversion of more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, military and civilian, into camps dedicated to abusing inmates since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak: "The Sde Teiman detention camp is just the tip of the iceberg. As we speak, thousands of Palestinians are being held in inhuman conditions and subjected to relentless abuse. Some do not know why they were arrested; many will be released without trial. This is the definition of a torture camp: a place that once you enter - no matter who you are or why you were arrested - you will be subjected to severe, deliberate, relentless pain and suffering."
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Interactive map of the permanent occupation of Palestinian land ...
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