Report on the Situation of Palestinian Prisoners
The Palestine Prisoners’ Association and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association, affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), have published a comprehensive report on the torture suffered by a Palestinian prisoner identified as GV in Ofer Prison. The report notes that “According to the testimonies of the current Gazan prisoners who have been visited, as well as those who have been released, the occupying state (Israeli) authorities continue to systematically commit crimes and continuously torture and humiliate Gazan prisoners.”
The report emphasized that Ofer Prison, located west of Ramallah, is one of the most obvious places for torture of Gazan prisoners. According to the report, Palestinian prisoner GV stated, “Interrogators tried to drown me with toilet water during interrogation and I am still being tortured, humiliated and beaten.”
GV stated that he was detained by Israeli soldiers in the Hamad neighborhood of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 2, and that his clothes were forcibly removed, his hands were cuffed behind his back and he was blindfolded. Stating that he was beaten as he was put in the truck, GV stated that he was held in an area covered with metal sheets for 100 days and that he was subjected to severe torture there. “For 100 days, we were beaten just for making any movement, and we were handcuffed and blindfolded for the entire time,” he said.
GV stated, “During the interrogation process, I tried to drown with toilet water for long hours using the ‘ghost method’ (tying the detail and hanging him in the air).” GV also stated that the Israeli officers who searched the ward where he was detained beat the entire ward severely just because he had hidden a few pieces of bread, and that as a result of these incidents, some details suffered fractures to their faces and hands.
According to the report, GV, who recounted all the events, is still in custody in Ofer Prison, where details are said to be subjected to torture, humiliation, harassment and beatings. Most details are reluctant to speak out due to the pressure they experience. The report also states, “Surgeries are being performed without anesthesia, details’ limbs are being amputated as a result of constant restraints, rape and sexual assaults at various levels, starvation and other systematic crimes continue to be committed.”
Finally, the report emphasizes that Israel has taken thousands of Palestinians captive from the Gaza Strip and that their fate is still unknown.
