Testimony “Naked”, “blindfolded” and “tied to their beds”… A doctor warns about the conditions of detention of Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli prison

Blindfolds, shackled hands, surgical operations without anesthesia… Is there an Israeli-style Guantanamo? Here is the rare and anonymous testimony of a doctor who was able to go inside the Sde Teiman military base, located 30 kilometers from Gaza, in the middle of the Negev desert. He affirms that “the detainees are not treated like human beings” and say “wish it closed”. “I don’t think tents in the desert that serve as hospitals could exist in a Western country in 2024.”

This Israeli surgeon entered this military camp for an hour, at the request of the army. He then discovers a base separated into two spaces: a detention center and a field hospital. It was there that he treated a patient with a serious gunshot wound. “The patients do not have names. They are arranged in two rows. There are between 15 and 20 detainees. They are all tied up and remain lying on beds. They cannot move. They are blindfolded. They are naked. They are wearing diapers.” he describes.

“It is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention and the code of ethics of the World Health Organization. It is physical and psychological torture.”

An Israeli surgeon

at franceinfo

Prisoners hospitalized at Sde Teiman died. “At Guantanamo, in 20 years, 20 people have lost their lives. But here, in six months, we are talking about 40 deaths. It is perhaps worse than Guantanamo,” advances Nadji Abbas of the Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights, who filed several appeals before the country’s highest court, without result.

“No one can enter. And no one has any information about what happens on a daily basis thereaffirms Nadji Abbas. The only explanation I can find is the feeling of revenge that Israeli society feels. And the Ministry of Health agrees with not properly treating these prisoners. What the Israeli army is doing with these detainees is what we call a policy of enforced disappearance.”

Faced with pressure from public opinion, and perhaps also from international justice, the army opened an investigation into Sde Teiman in the middle of last week. According to Naji Abbas, there are other similar detention centers like that of Ananot, east of Jerusalem.