“Grave for the Living”: The health status of Palestinian prisoners recently released from Israeli jails indicates their systematic malnutrition and torture by Euromed Monitor

The day before their scheduled release, Israeli forces seized them and forced them to shave their hair, according to former prisoner “Haitham Jaber” from the town of Haris in the Salfit district. When he refused to shave his hair, the prison administration took him by force and shaved his hair all the way. “Jaber” went on to say: “The inmates endure extremely harsh living conditions, and the most extreme forms of torture, abuse, and degrading treatment were performed against us until the very end.”

The detainees were humiliated by being made to stand in a single queue and occasionally asked to walk on all fours, he said, demonstrating how the prison guards treated them like ‘animals’. Additionally, they were denied basic rights like access to water, as each room was only given one bottle of water per day, and the restrooms were completely devoid of water, making it impossible for them to relieve themselves.

…The crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army and other Israeli security forces against Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip are considered crimes against humanity and full-fledged war crimes. They also constitute acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Strip because they are carried out in a systematic and brutal manner with the intention of eradicating the Palestinian people as a group, including through rape, torture, and other forms of sexual violence.