Gazan workers denounce their conditions of detention in Israeli prisons

This Palestinian, whom we will call Ayman, shows us his wrists which bear marks of restraint. The skin is still bruised. On the day of the Hamas attack, he was in Rahat, an Arab town in southern Israel only 30 kilometers from Gaza. This is where he was housed with 70 Gazan workers: “The owner of the building kicked us out, testifies Ayman. He told us to find a solution because he couldn’t keep us. We went to the Israeli police. Then the army came and put us on buses.”

Israeli soldiers then locked them in rooms measuring 4 square meters: “They handcuffed our hands behind our backs with plastic ties, and our feet too. They started beating us. After 12 hours, people started screaming and complaining. It was very painful, the ties were very tight. My blood was no longer circulating.”

Testimonies that multiply

Ayman explains that he was detained for 15 days and then released on medical grounds because there was no treatment to cure him. His hands were starting to become necrotized. He was then transferred to Ramallah hospital.

There are other stories of mistreatment, as evidenced by the testimonies collected on Friday, November 4 by a Palestinian journalist at the Rafah crossing point. A man also speaks to us: he spent 21 days in an Israeli prison before returning to Gaza. He says he was tortured, humiliated, that even dogs live in better conditions. Soldiers stripped him naked and beat him. “We are only poor employees”, he adds.

Contacted, the spokesperson for the Israeli army affirms that if such behavior were proven, it would not be in compliance with the orders of the Army.