Released Palestinians claim Israeli jail torture

Palestinian inmates released from Israeli jails say guards abused and collectively punished them in the weeks after the 7 October Hamas strikes.

They reported being struck with sticks, muzzled dogs, and stripped of their clothes, food, and blankets.

One female prisoner claims officers twice tear-gassed her in the cells and threatened to rape her.

All six people interviewed by bustlingnews.com reported they were abused before leaving jail.

The Palestinian inmates Society claims guards urinated on shackled inmates. In the previous week, six Israeli detainees have perished.

All Israeli detainees are held legally, according to Israel.

Israel freed 18-year-old Mohammed Nazzal this week in return for Israeli women and children held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

He was jailed without charge in Nafha Prison since August and does not know why.

Mohammed welcomed me to his home in Qabatiya, near Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank, along a meandering alley.

Smoke from a dozen smokes filled the family reception room at the top of the ancient house. A relative circled the visitors with a flask of coffee and a tall tower of little paper cups.

Mohammed sat between rows of male relatives, his hands thickly wrapped and stiffly held up like a boxer, his thumbs poking out.

He says Israeli prison officers entered his cell with a microphone and speaker ten days ago and tried to agitate prisoners by clapping and chanting their names.

"When they saw we weren't reacting," recalls, "they started to beat us."

"They placed the senior captives in the back and the children in front. Taken and beaten. They tried to break my legs and hands while I protected my head."

The family gave us Ramallah physicians' papers and X-rays of Mohammed after his discharge on Monday.

Two UK experts confirmed both hand fractures after seeing the X-rays. Mohammed was expecting it.

"In the beginning, I was in a lot of pain," he says. After a while, I realized they were broken and stopped using them. I only used them in the bathroom."

He says the other prisoners helped him eat, drink, and use the restroom, and he didn't ask the guards for medical treatment for fear of being hit again.

The Israel Prison Service claims Mohammed was evaluated by a doctor before leaving prison and found no medical issues.

The jail authorities produced a video showing the adolescent leaving prison and boarding a Red Cross bus before his release to disprove his claims.

The teen's unbandaged hands are seen dangling by his sides as he steps onto the bus, but they are out of camera for most of the video.

Mohammed said he had his first medical treatment on the Red Cross bus.

The day he returned home, a Ramallah hospital report suggested a plate if his fractures didn't heal.

We asked the Red Cross to verify Mohammed's story. Statement: "If we have medical concerns concerning detainees, we speak immediately with the detaining authorities. We don't discuss individual incidents due to this conversation."

Mohammed claims that the 7 October Hamas attacks impacted Israeli jail guards' behavior.

He claims guards kicked and struck them with sticks, and one stepped on his face.

"They brought their dogs," he says. "They let the dogs attack us and then they started beating us."

"They dumped mattresses, clothes, pillows, and food on the floor. People panicked."

These beatings left bruises on his back and shoulder, he adds.

"The dog attacking me wore a muzzle with very sharp edges - his muzzle and claws left marks all over my body," he says.

He described such beatings twice in Megiddo Prison and more than he could count at Nafha Prison.

We have spoken to other Palestinian detainees who saw a similar shift in Israel's jails after the Hamas assaults as "revenge" for Hamas' acts.

We heard that guards urinated on chained inmates and that numerous detainees had seen cellmates viciously assaulted on their faces and bodies, according to Palestinian inmates Society president Abdullah al-Zaghary.

The Israel Prison Service was contacted about these allegations. They claimed all detainees were legally jailed and had basic rights.

"We are not aware of the claims you described," read the statement. "Nonetheless, prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined by official authorities."

After her release from prison this week, Lama Khater posted a video on social media stating that an intelligence officer "explicitly threatened her with rape" after her detention in late October.

"I was handcuffed and blindfolded," she told a video interviewer. They threatened to rape me... I knew that was to intimidate me."

Israel stated her lawyer made these charges and the prisoner rejected them. It said the jail service complained of incitement.

But Lama Khater informed us by phone that Damon Prison had threatened women detainees, including herself, with rape and used tear gas in their dormitories.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society reports six Palestinian deaths in detention since the 7 October attacks, a dramatic increase.

Israel told us that four detainees had died on four dates in the last weeks and that the jail authorities did not know the causes.

Mohammed Nazzal of Qabatiya village says his hands hurt at night.

I heard from his brother Mutaz that the teen he knew was still in jail.

"This is not the Mohammed we know," remarked he. "He was brave. His heart is shattered and frightened."

He said the Israeli army had conducted an operation in Jenin, 4km (2.5 miles) distant, the night before: "You could see how scared he was."