EIGHT Palestinian prisoners released by the Israeli military claim they were tortured and threatened while in detention.
Two women and six men were released from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. Among the prisoners, several men showed signs of physical torture and appeared to be wincing in pain.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the freed prisoners were “completely exhausted.”
“One of the women could not walk and was taken to the emergency department on a stretcher.”
The detainees were not arrested at the same time, he said, adding one of the men, an aid truck driver, was detained at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border post.
One woman was arrested after visiting the occupied West Bank with her child.
Read also: Palestinians Tell of Torture in Israeli Army Custody
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it provided first aid to the freed prisoners in front of the Kissufim military checkpoint and transferred them to Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza.
“They all said they were tortured, they all said they were threatened. They all said they were denied medicine and clothing,” Khoudary reported.
“They were asked about Hamas members and Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip.”
Also read: 50 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Military Attack on Gaza
Israel released dozens of previously detained Palestinians in July, including the director of al-Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, who said Palestinians face daily torture in prison.
“Some detainees died in interrogation centers and were deprived of food and medicine,” Salmiya said at a news conference after her release. “The cells were vandalized and the detainees were beaten.”
Abu Salmiya was arrested amid Israeli military claims that Hamas was using al-Shifa Hospital as a base. He was released after more than seven months in detention.
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported in July that prisons were “full” as the number of Palestinians arrested increased following the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.
The Palestine Prisoners Society and the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission also said 9,800 Palestinians have been detained in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Gaza began. (Al Jazeera/Z-3)
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