- International institutions must break their silence, express their positions, and take practical steps to hold the perpetrators accountable

- Murder, rape, forced injections with unknown substances, and hellish methods of torturing detainees

- Shooting detainees after their release and forcing them to run hundreds of meters under a hail of bullets

- The use of dogs, electric shocks, beatings and insults in Ashkelon prison

- Samir Morgan: I was 4 minutes late in the bathroom and was electrocuted
Omar Al-Aklouk, one of the detainees, died after being subjected to severe torture

A mute detainee was beaten and tortured because he did not answer the investigators’ questions

New testimonies from prisoners released from Israeli prisons and detention centers confirm the continued systematic commission of crimes of violent torture and inhuman treatment against thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been arrested as part of the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip since last October 7.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory, which revealed the testimonies in a statement on Wednesday, called on international justice institutions and the international community to break the cycle of silence, express strict positions and take serious steps regarding the unfolding brutal torture based on discrimination, collective revenge and dehumanization to which Palestinian civilians are subjected. , which amounted to murder, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, and forced injections with unknown substances, leaving scars and distinct marks on their bodies, stressing the need to oblige Israel to end all its crimes against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including the crimes of torture, inhuman treatment, and enforced disappearance that it practices against Palestinians. Thousands of them.

Release to northern Gaza
The Euro-Med Monitor noted that it followed the occupation’s release of dozens of detainees on Tuesday, June 11, from the Zikim area in the northern Gaza Strip. During the moment of their release, the occupation army opened fire on them and forced them to walk and jog hundreds of meters until they could reach populated areas. They arrived in a deplorable state as a result of fatigue, which worsened the health condition they were already suffering from as a result of their exposure to torture and violence throughout the period of detention. 33 of them arrived at “Kamal Adwan” Hospital in Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, to receive treatment.

Unidentified injections and electric shocks
In his testimony to the Euro-Med team, the freed prisoner, Samir Abdullah Jamal Murjan (23 years old), confirmed that he was subjected to severe beatings, electric shocks, insults, and an attempt to inject him with unknown substances. He said: “The Israeli army arrested me on March 11, 2024, from the Nabulsi checkpoint, southwest of Gaza, while I was trying to flee.” To the south, they transferred me to a detention center opposite Rafah for two months, then I was transferred to Ashkelon prison, and I spent two months there in Mardwan. I and the other prisoners lived through difficult days.

He added: Every day we were brutally tortured, including beatings and insults, in addition to using dogs to attack and intimidate us, and using electricity to torture us. In Ashkelon Prison, the situation was worse. I was in a solitary cell and spent 12 days without food. During the interrogation, they used electric shocks to obtain confessions and asked us about Hamas and the tunnels. When I said I did not know because I am a civilian and had no knowledge of other matters, I would be beaten. The interrogation was accompanied by attacks and brutal torture, and we were subjected to interrogation every 10 days.

He confirmed that he witnessed in prison the suffering of others whose health condition deteriorated and worsened, and they even contracted diseases there without medical attention, in addition to the army giving some prisoners unknown injections.

He said: I refused to be injected with it, and because of that, I was beaten and tortured with electricity. Torture continued throughout the detention period. Yesterday, because I was late in the bathroom, one of the officers came and electrocuted me, and the effects of that are still present in my body. Even the bathroom is calculated at a specific time, so if you are late for more than 4 minutes, you will be exposed to electricity. I was surprised when they told me that I would be released, and I could not sleep from joy. Then they took us and dropped us off at Zikim and opened fire around us.”

Martyrdom of a prisoner
In another testimony by Amr Abdel Fattah Al-Aklouk to the Euro-Med field team, a resident of the Gaza Strip, who was receiving treatment in Jerusalem and was arrested by the occupation army three times since the outbreak of the attack on the Gaza Strip, most recently on June 5, he confirmed the martyrdom of another detainee under torture by the Israeli occupation forces. He reported: “About 5 days ago, I encountered a detainee named “Muhammad Al-Kahlot,” a resident of Al-Faluga, north of Gaza. He told me to contact his family if I got out and tell them that he was fine. He was in the room opposite us, and I was talking to him from the grill and I did not know that I was going out. The next day of our conversation, he died as a result of being tortured, and the army put his body in a plastic death bag and took him to a place I don’t know where.

He confirmed that during my detention, there was a group of detainees from the Gaza Strip, and they classified them as security prisoners who were being oppressed throughout the day and beaten brutally and randomly, affecting all parts of the body until their blood flowed. Muhammad was killed under the torture to which he was subjected at different times throughout the day.

Non-human blessings
In another testimony, the elderly man, S.A. (65 years old), narrated to the Euro-Med team details of his arrest from his home in Jabalia camp, his exposure to torture, enforced disappearance, and detention in inhuman barracks, and the torture he witnessed of a mute young man.

He said: “The Israeli army entered Jabalia Camp last May. We chose to stay in the house located in the Al-Qasaib neighborhood, behind the Jabalia Camp Agency clinic. The vehicles advanced to the area where we live, and the army entered the house we were in. They took us all out, and took me and two others.” Of my brothers’ children, after the rest were deported to the western regions. This was on May 21, 2024, when they took us to an unknown destination. From the first moment we were blindfolded and did not know where to go or what was happening around us.

He added: During the period of our detention, which lasted approximately 20 days, it felt like 20 years. Every day had a story of torture, beatings, and humiliation. When bedtime came, the knocking on doors began and the sounds of loudspeakers played disturbing music.

Food is scarce, and a person can barely get a loaf of bread and a little cheese. Going to the bathroom is difficult, and the treatment is humiliating. They did not take into consideration that I was 65 years old, and I was not the oldest person there. There was someone over 70 years old. We were in a place that looked like a “barracks.” No one knew where we were. There were many people arriving at this place that looked like a detention center, and the occupation army was working to deport many of them to places that no one knew.

He continued: There was a person among us who did not speak (mute). They continued to beat and torture him for several days. They wanted him to answer their questions even though he did not speak. Handcuffs on our hands From the first moment of arrest, even when we ate and went to the bathroom, our hands were shackled. They informed us on Monday evening, June 10, 2024, that they would release us, and one of the jailers threatened me: “Do not complain anything to the press, otherwise we will come to you again.”

Torture approach
According to Euro-Med, the testimonies of released Palestinian detainees confirm that the Israeli forces are continuing with the approach of severe torture and retaliation against Palestinian detainees despite their awareness that they are civilians.

The Euro-Med Monitor believes that the continuation of this torture is a natural result of the isolation of the Palestinian people from Israel, along with the silence of the international community, including the relevant bodies in the United Nations.

Euro-Med highlighted what was indicated in the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry concerned with the occupied Palestinian territory, including occupied Jerusalem, and Israel, regarding the crimes of torture, inhuman treatment, and sexual violence that Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in general, and Palestinian detainees in particular, are exposed to. Being forced to strip in public, including while blinded, tied to a chair while kneeling or with their hands tied behind their backs, interrogated and/or subjected to physical and psychological abuse while naked, and forced to perform humiliating acts while naked, such as dancing without clothes while being photographed.

Murder and rape
He stated that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, ignored the serious crimes committed by the Israeli security and military forces against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the Palestinian territories in general, including crimes of unlawful confinement, premeditated murder, torture, rape, inhuman treatment, enforced disappearance, and intentionally causing severe suffering through Deprivation of necessary medical care, and denial of a fair trial, especially with the presence of many reliable international reports supported by evidence issued by human rights and media institutions that confirm, based on the investigations they conducted, that torture and violence were committed against them on a widespread and systematic basis, including murders. And torture, as there were Israeli reports of the killing of 36 detainees from the Gaza Strip within 8 months, in addition to hundreds of horrifying testimonies provided by those released. Dozens of complaints were also received about sexual violence, including nudity, verbal and sensual harassment, while international and press reports covered at least 7 cases of rape against Palestinian women and men detained inside Israeli prisons and detention centers.

Claims
Euro-Med renewed its call to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to continue investigating all crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, expand the scope of investigation into individual criminal responsibility for these crimes to include all those responsible for them, and expedite the issuance of arrest warrants against all of them.

Euro-Med also called on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the issue of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to carry out the true role assigned to her in accordance with her mandate and to adhere to the rules of integrity and independence of her work, including carrying out immediate investigations and conducting country visits to find out the facts about what is being done to him. Male and female detainees are subject to grave violations and serious crimes, and submit reports about them, instead of leaving matters to the discretion of the Israeli authorities, in order to pave the way for the work of investigation and fact-finding committees and international courts in examining, investigating, and conducting trials regarding crimes committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med called on the international community to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to release all Palestinian detainees who were arbitrarily arrested, and if they are brought to trial, to guarantee all fair trial procedures, and to return the remains of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who were killed in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

Euro-Med also renewed its demand to pressure Israel to immediately stop committing the crime of enforced disappearance against Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip, immediately reveal all secret detention camps, disclose the names of all Palestinians it detains from the Gaza Strip, their fate and places of detention, and to bear its full responsibilities towards Their lives and safety.