Israeli authorities have dramatically increased their use of administrative detention, a form of arbitrary detention, of Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank. Expansion of emergency measures that promote inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners. Amnesty International said today that it had failed to investigate incidents of torture and deaths in custody over the past four weeks.
The Israeli military has detained more than 2,200 Palestinian men and women since October 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners of War Club. From October 1 to November 1, the total number of Palestinians held in administrative detention without charge or trial increased from 1,319 to 2,070, according to Israeli human rights group Hamoked.
Testimonies from released detainees and human rights lawyers, as well as video footage and images, show some of the torture and other ill-treatment suffered by Israeli forces over the past four weeks. These include severe beatings and humiliation of detainees, including forcing detainees to bow their heads, kneeling on the floor when counting prisoners, and singing Israeli songs. It also includes making things worse.
“In the last month, we have witnessed a significant spike in Israel’s use of administrative detention (detention in which both charges and trials can be renewed indefinitely), with numbers increasing since the latest hostilities on October 7th. Administrative detention was already at a 20-year high before the escalation. Testimony and video evidence are also damning. “There have been numerous incidents of torture and other ill-treatment by Israeli forces, including severe beatings and deliberate humiliation of Palestinians detained in harsh conditions,” said Heba Molayev, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. said.
In the last month, we have seen a significant spike in Israel's use of administrative detention (detention in which both charges and trials are renewable indefinitely), prior to the latest escalation of hostilities on October 7th. It had already reached its highest level in 20 years.
Heba Molayev, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
“While the summary killings and hostage-taking by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7 were war crimes and must be condemned as such, the Israeli authorities have condemned these attacks as their own unlawful attacks and in the besieged Gaza Strip. “Deprivation, torture, arbitrary detention, and other rights violations of Palestinian prisoners of war shall not be used to justify the collective punishment of civilians.” The prohibition on torture cannot be suspended or revoked, especially in these cases. ”
Amnesty International researchers interviewed 12 people, including six released detainees, three relatives of detainees, and three lawyers involved in recent arrests. Researchers also examined testimonies shared by other released detainees and analyzed video footage and images.
torture and humiliation
For decades, Amnesty International has documented widespread torture by Israeli authorities in detention centers across the West Bank. But over the past four weeks, Israeli soldiers have been blindfolding, stripping, and holding Palestinians with their hands tied, beating and humiliating them in a particularly gruesome public display of torture and humiliation. Videos and images of the gruesome scene were shared widely online. About Palestinian detainees.
One image analyzed by Amnesty International's Crisis Evidence Lab shows three blindfolded and undressed Palestinian men next to a soldier wearing green-olive uniforms similar to those worn by Israeli ground forces. is shown in the photo. A Haaretz investigation published on October 19 found that the image was taken on October 12 in Wadi al-Sheikh, a village east of Ramallah. One of the three victims pictured told Amnesty International that he was initially detained and assaulted by the settlers, but that an Israeli military jeep arrived two hours later.
“One of the Israeli officers came up to me, kicked me on the left side, then jumped on my head with both feet and pushed my face further into the dirt until I fell head first into the dirt. He continued to kick me while I was still tied with my hands behind my back. He then got a knife and tore all of my clothes off except for my underwear and used some of the torn clothes to blindfold me. The beatings on the rest of my body didn't stop and at one point he started jumping on my back 3 or 4 times yelling “die, die, you bastard”… before this eventually stopped. , another police officer urinated on my back. While hurting his face and body, he screamed at us to die. ”
The beatings on the rest of my body didn't stop and at one point he started jumping on my back 3 or 4 times yelling “die, die, you bastard”… before this finally stopped , another police officer urinated on my back. While hurting his face and body, he yelled at us to “die”.
Victims attacked by Israeli settlers and military in eastern Ramallah
Amnesty International also spoke to two women who were arbitrarily detained for 14 hours at a police station in occupied East Jerusalem, where they were humiliated, stripped, mocked and asked to curse Hamas. Ta. They were later released without charge.
The video, first published on social media on October 31 and analyzed by Amnesty International's Crisis Evidence Lab, shows nine detained men identified as Palestinian based on their discernible accents. Some are stripped naked, others half-naked, blindfolded, handcuffed and surrounded. by at least 12 soldiers wearing olive green uniforms and equipped with M4A1 or Tavor X95 assault rifles. Both uniforms and weapons are standard equipment for Israeli ground forces. One of the soldiers can be seen kicking one of the detainees in the head. Another video analyzed by Amnesty International's Crisis Evidence Lab, uploaded to Platform They are shown dancing around him.
A recently released Palestinian detainee from occupied East Jerusalem told Amnesty International on condition of anonymity that Israeli interrogators at the Russian detention center (al-Maskoubiyeh), a detention center in Jerusalem, were holding him and other detainees. He told the story of how he violently assaulted the victims. He had bruises and three of his ribs were broken. He also highlighted that Israeli police interrogators kept punching him in the head, constantly shouting for him to bow his head while ordering him to “praise Israel and curse Hamas.” It added: “The beatings and humiliation did not stop even when one of the 12 detainees who were with him in the cell did so.”
Since October 7, four Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli detention facilities in conditions that have not yet been investigated fairly, according to Israeli authorities. Two of the four were workers from the occupied Gaza Strip who are being held in isolation in military detention centers by the Israeli military, but their deaths were only made public by the military after an investigation by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
Under international law, torture and other ill-treatment committed against protected persons in occupied territories is a war crime. As in the case of OPT Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the detention of protected persons outside the occupied territories also amounts to forcible removal and is therefore a violation of international humanitarian law.
Inhuman and degrading treatment in prisons
The Israeli Prisons Authority reported to the human rights group Hamoked that it was holding 6,809 Palestinian prisoners as of November 1. On October 31, Israeli authorities extended for one month a state of prison emergency that gives Israel's Minister of National Security virtually unlimited power to deny prisoners access to their lawyers and families. Holding detainees in overcrowded cells. Cruel and indecent treatment of detainees, in effect denying them outdoor exercise and imposing cruel collective punishment measures such as cutting off water and electricity for long periods, in violation of the prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment. It was agreed to allow for more humane treatment.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that since October 7, Palestinian prisoners of war have been denied access to their families and lawyers. Sanaa Salameh, the wife of terminally ill Palestinian prisoner Walid Dhaka, told Amnesty International that since October 7, neither she nor Dhaka's lawyer have been allowed to see him or provide any information about his health. He said he has not done so. “I don't know if he is getting the medical care he needs. I have no contact with him at all and I don't have even a shred of information to comfort me,” she told Amnesty International.
Palestinian lawyer Hassan Abadi, who has been visiting at least four detainees every week since October 7, told Amnesty International that Palestinian detainees are being denied the right to exercise outdoors. , said that one of the forms of humiliation they are subjected to when counting the number of prisoners is: Forced to kneel on the floor. He added that all personal belongings of Palestinians in detention, including books, diaries, letters, clothing, food and other items, were confiscated and sometimes burned. A Palestinian female prisoner at Ardamon Prison had her sanitary napkins confiscated by prison authorities. Abadi said a client he represents said her officers threatened to rape her while she was blindfolded and detained at Kiryat Arba police station near Hebron.
Spike in arbitrary detention
According to Hamoked News Agency, administrative detention of Palestinians has increased throughout 2023, reaching 1,319 people on October 1, 2023. As of November 1, this number had increased to more than 2,070 people in administrative detention. Palestinians classified by Israel as “security prisoners” are often held without charge or trial, most under administrative detention orders that can be renewed every six months indefinitely.
Administrative detention is a form of detention of individuals by state authorities on secret security grounds that cannot be reviewed by defendants and their lawyers, and is a form of detention in which individuals are detained by state authorities on the basis of secret security reasons that cannot be reviewed by defendants and their lawyers, and which deprives individuals of the deprivation of liberty guaranteed under international law to all persons deprived of liberty. This effectively circumvents the formalities. Amnesty International has found that Israel systematically uses administrative detention as a means to persecute Palestinians, rather than as a precautionary measure used specifically and selectively.
Israeli authorities also enforced the “illegal combatant” law, a category not recognized under international law, and charged at least 105 Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip who entered Israel during the Hamas-led offensive. He chose to be detained indefinitely without trial. October 7th. It remains unclear how many of them have been detained in connection with the attacks.
Israeli judicial authorities must also fairly and independently investigate accusations of torture and other ill-treatment and prosecute those responsible for ordering and carrying out torture in fair trials.
Heba Molayev, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Israeli authorities have also subjected thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly workers, who have been granted entry to Israel, to a third form of arbitrary detention, and have committed two military operations in Israel and the West Bank. He was held in isolation for at least three weeks at a detention base. Many have been released, but there is still no transparency from Israeli authorities about how many are being held.
“Israeli authorities must immediately reverse the inhumane emergency measures imposed on Palestinian prisoners of war and grant them immediate access to lawyers and families. All arbitrarily detained Palestinians must be released. We call on Israel to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to make emergency visits to prisons and detention facilities to monitor the conditions of Palestinian detainees,” said Heba Molayev.
“Israeli judicial authorities must also fairly and independently investigate accusations of torture and other ill-treatment and prosecute those responsible for ordering and carrying out torture in a fair trial.”