Evidence suggests Palestinian prisoners subjected to torture by Israel

Albanese said in a post on X on Monday that Zionist regime continues to evade accountability for these crimes.

The Special Rapporteur referred to a report published by the British newspaper The Guardian, which revealed the hellish conditions in the Israeli prison of “Rakefit,” stating that Palestinian prisoners were being held underground in darkness.

The exclusive report by The Guardian outlines the conditions of dozens of Palestinians being held in an underground prison known as Rakeft.

According to the report, prisoners in Rakeft are deprived of sunlight, adequate food, and any contact with their families or the outside world.

The findings are based on testimonies from lawyers with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), who visited the underground facility and interviewed two civilian prisoners.

The report highlights that many detainees are non-combatants and that their detention is often extended during brief video hearings conducted without legal representation. Israeli courts have justified these extensions with the phrase "until the end of the war."

Previously, released Palestinian prisoners have reported experiences of torture that left them injured, ill, and traumatized.

In recent weeks, approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel in a prisoner exchange that included 33 Hamas captives and five Thai nationals, part of a ceasefire that halted fighting on January 19 following 15 months of war.

Ibrahim Al Shawish, a 45-year-old teacher from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, spoke to The National about his nightmarish experience after being arrested in December 2023 at a school. He described being stripped naked in cold conditions and interrogated in brutal circumstances.

"The soldiers dragged me over broken glass, injuring my body," Al Shawish recounted. "They hurled heinous insults at me and my family while I suffered without any medical assistance. My wounds became infected, and I endured immense pain for weeks."

The remains of deceased Palestinians returned by Israel also show signs of organ harvesting performed with surgical precision and intended for transplantation, a surgeon has warned.

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon, said on Sunday that he had seen “photographs of the bodies that were received by the Palestinian Ministry of Health from the Israeli army,” which clearly revealed “surgically removed lungs, heart, kidneys and liver; done in a professional, surgical way, using sharp bone saws, causing zero damage to surrounding tissues.”

His observations align with reports by the Gaza Government Media Office director, Ismail al-Thawabta, who said Israeli forces had stolen organs from deceased Palestinians. He demanded an immediate international investigation.

Al-Thawabta described dozens of mutilated bodies missing vital parts, including eyes, limbs, and internal organs.

Since the Zionist regime launched its genocidal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, nearly 69,179 Palestinians have been martyred and about 171,000 wounded, most of them women and children, it has also displaced most of the population of 2.3 million, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide.