Ramallah - Saba:
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Club revealed today that the legal team was able to complete a visit to several detainees from Gaza at the (Ofer) camp, noting that the visits reflected the tragic conditions and shocking accounts of the abuse and torture that the detainees are subjected to.
According to the Palestine Today agency, based on the latest visits to nine detainees, the camp administration continues to carry out acts of theft and deprivation of the detainees' rights, which fall under the framework of torture policies. The systematictorture remains the foundation of the detainees' narratives, which include many details confirming that the general headings of the crimes and policies documented and monitored by human rights organizations are no longer sufficient to reflect the level of brutality exercised against Gaza detainees.
They mentioned that the detainees confirmed the humiliating methods employed by the camp administration, including forcing detainees to chant daily for what is called the "captain" with the phrase "thank you, captain" in Hebrew. Those who do not comply are subjected to punitive assaults, which is just one example of the many methods used by the camp administration to humiliate them and its ongoing attempts to strip them of their humanity.
In terms of medical treatment, the occupation prison administration continues to deprive detainees of their right to treatment and healthcare. Some detainees who were released for the visit were suffering from wounds and injuries that had not healed due to their systematic deprivation of treatment, which constitutes one aspect of medical crimes.
During the visit, the lawyers focused on the degrading and humiliating situations that detainees are forced to endure. For instance, detainees who have court sessions conducted via telephone are compelled to sit in humiliating positions on their knees or stomachs in the campyard, and this continues for hours, from seven in the morning until the sessions conclude.
The Palestinian Authority for Prisoners' Affairs indicated that detainees have begun to suffer from severe cold, especially at night, with the arrival of autumn and the approach of winter, amid a lack of clothing to protect them from the cold, or blankets. Like thousands of prisoners and detainees in the occupation's prisons and camps, the occupation's systematic policies include turning cold weather conditions into a tool for tormenting and torturing detainees.
The Authority and the Club expressed their concern about the spread of skin diseases among the detainees from Gaza in the camp, especially as the camp administration continues to deny them the use of soap. Detainees have been forced to shower without soap for several months, and monitoring has shown that the lack of personal hygiene tools has been the central reason for the spread of skin diseases among prisoners and detainees in various prisons.
They confirmed that everything reflected and conveyed about the detainees from Gaza over the past months up to today emphasizes that the desire for revenge dominates the behavior of the soldiers and guards, and they even compete to see who can be more brutal towards the detainees.
They also reviewed the key data related to the case of Gaza detainees, which represents the most significant challenge for human rights institutions in light of the ongoing imposition of the crime of enforced disappearance against hundreds of them. This continues despite the efforts that institutions continue to exert, in light of the legal amendments made by the occupation, which allowed for the knowledge of the fate of many of them and the visitation of dozens by legal teams under strict restrictions.
The committee and the club stated that there is no clear estimate of the number of detainees from Gaza in the occupation's prisons and camps since the beginning of the war until now, which is estimated in the thousands, including dozens of women, children, and the elderly, in addition to the arrest campaigns that targeted medical teams.
They explained that the testimonies and accounts of Gaza detainees represented a significant shift in the level of brutality of the occupation system, reflecting an unprecedented level of torture crimes, acts of humiliation, the crime of starvation, in addition to systematic medical crimes, sexual assaults, and their use as human shields.
They also confirmed that the (Sde Teiman) camp has become a prominent symbol of torture crimes and horrific medical crimes against Gaza detainees, in addition to what was conveyed in the accounts and testimonies of other released detainees about incidents of rape and sexual assaults there, indicating that this camp is not the only place where Gaza detainees are held, as the occupation has distributed them across several central prisons and has carried out systematic torture operations equivalent to those in the (Sde Teiman) camp, including the (Negev and Ofer) prisons.
They continued in their statement: "These crimes have led to the martyrdom of dozens of detainees, in addition to the field executions carried out against others, knowing that the relevant institutions have only reported (24) martyrs from the detainees in Gaza, who are among (41) detainees and prisoners who have been martyred since the beginning of the genocide war, while the occupation continues to conceal the names of other detainees who were martyred in the camps and prisons."
They also pointed out that the occupation continues to prevent the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting them, as well as all prisoners and detainees.
The authority and the club added: "The latest data issued by the prison administration regarding the detainees from Gaza, concerning the number classified as unlawful combatants, amounts to (1618) based on what has been disclosed until the beginning of October."
The statement noted that the occupation recently carried out widespread arrest campaigns in northern Gaza, targeting hundreds, knowing that these arrest campaigns affected dozens of medical staff, and to this day, there is no information about the fate of those who were recently arrested and are still subjected to enforced disappearance.
The authority and the club revealed the names of several detainees held in the (Ofer) camp, based on what was mentioned by the detainees who were visited.
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