Status: 24.12.2023, 17:17 PM
By: Sandra Käthe
CommentsPrint Share
Israel has been criticized from many sides for its fierce military strikes on the Gaza Strip. The reports of prisoners are also causing outrage.
Gaza/Tel Aviv – Former prisoners of the Israeli army have repeatedly made fierce accusations against the armed forces' treatment of terror suspects they have captured. In an interview with the German Press Agency, those affected are now speaking of alleged torture practices and violations of international law. The Israeli military has repeatedly denied allegations of alleged wrongdoing in the war in Israel.
Specifically, a Palestinian from Beit Lahia, not far from the border between the northern Gaza Strip and Israel, named by the Brahim news agency, claimed to have been detained and tortured by Israel for four weeks as a terror suspect. He and several of his fellow prisoners were beaten and degraded and had to undress again and again. During the transport to Israel, their hands were handcuffed and blindfolded.
During an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian terror suspects at the end of November, a photographer captured how a prisoner fainted after his release. (Archvifoto) © John Macdougall/AFP
Israel defends itself against criticism of interrogation methods: "In accordance with international law"
On the Israeli side, it is said that terror suspects identified during the operation in the Gaza Strip are brought to Israel for interrogation and that in the course of this it is also necessary to check their clothing. This would ensure that the detainees did not carry weapons or explosives. At the end of the checks, the prisoners were given back their clothes "if possible". Overall, Israel emphasizes that it is treating the detainees "in accordance with international law." People whom the military does not see as being involved in Hamas actions will be released after the interrogations.
According to the agency, however, this is not only contradicted by the released prisoner from Beit Lahia. A 39-year-old mother of five from the city of Gaza also claims to have been abused in captivity in Israel: "Men and women of the Israeli army beat me all over the body," the agency quotes the woman, who said she had been detained for three weeks and questioned about her neighbors. Other prisoners, she says, also complained of not having access to food, water and toilets during their time in Israeli detention.
Weeks in Israeli captivity: 39-year-old mother makes accusations
The 39-year-old from Gaza accused the military forces: "They know very well that I am not politically active, but they deliberately humiliated me and all the other detainees." Brahim also emphasizes to the dpa that he has repeatedly asserted his innocence. Yet, while in captivity, he was asked hundreds of questions in Arabic about Hamas, its leaders, its activities and the tunnels in the Gaza Strip. In the interrogation room, he was subjected to "various types of physical and psychological torture." According to dpa, the information provided by the sources could not be independently verified.
My news
After shooting down Russian bombers: Putin's soldiers must be tremblingRead
Cheap goods from North Korea probably decimate Putin's troops – grenades explode in the barrel
Klitschko brothers buy kamikaze drones for fight for Avdiivkalese
"Kleptomaniacs" – Lavrov insults German authorities
Putin creates "Leningrad military district" on NATO border and announces "problems" Read
Wüst calls for quick asylum summit – and holds back on K-question Read more
Israel's army announced on Saturday that it had detained more than 7 members of terrorist organizations from the Gaza Strip for interrogation since the brutal terror attack by Hamas militias on October 700. Footage of underpants-clad Palestinian prisoners in the Gaza Strip had recently sparked concern about Israel's detention process and raised questions about possible rights violations or degrading treatment.
Israel, meanwhile, has dismissed as lies reports of atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers at a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The IDF had nothing to do with bodies discovered at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, it said in a statement on Sunday. (saka with dpa
)