Some Palestinian prisoners released yesterday as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal have claimed they suffered abuse while serving their sentences in Israeli jails.
“There was no treatment, we couldn’t even take painkillers,” another released prisoner, 45-year-old Faisal Mahmood Abdullah Al Khaleefi, told CNN in Ramallah.
Al Khaleefi had been convicted of security, weapons and other offenses and was in prison for 10 years. “As for doctors, the one who was treating us also beat us. The first one to beat (us) was the doctor, ” he added.
Al Khaleefi also alleged prison authorities “left us in the sun. They left us on the gravel, 12 hours.”
“From time to time they would force us to stand up, beat us or throw us on our cellmates,” he added.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Monday that “many prisoners, especially those from Gaza, showed clear signs of physical and psychological torture, and there were documented cases of abuse even until the last moments of their release.”
CNN has asked the Israeli prison authorities for a response to the allegations.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that several of the prisoners who were released in Ramallah had been beaten by Israeli security personnel before boarding buses.
Some had sustained rib fractures and eye trauma, said PRCS spokesman Hassan Silwadi. The Israel Prison Service said in response that it was not aware of the claims described, and told CNN that “to the best of our knowledge, no such incidents occurred under IPS responsibility.”
Human rights groups have often alleged abuse of Palestinian inmates at Israeli jails. A CNN investigation last year spoke to three Israeli whistleblowers who worked at one detention camp who recounted beatings and other mistreatment. Take a full look back here at the moment Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons.