An Israeli detention center is subjecting Palestinians to abuse, strapping detainees down to their beds, blindfolding them, and holding them in diapers, a new CNN report alleges.
The Sde Teiman camp in the Negev desert in southern Israel is also a military base. It has been the site of abusive conduct against some of the 70 Palestinian detainees, three Israeli whistleblowers told CNN.
Medical personnel at the facility are alleged to have performed amputations on prisoners due to injuries sustained from prolonged handcuffing, with some procedures carried out by underqualified staff.Â
Guards are accused of using excessive force as a form of punishment, while detainees endure routine humiliations, including being attacked by dogs and subjected to aggressive searches, CNN reported.
The Israel Defense Forces detained the prisoners during the on-going invasion of Gaza, that began after Hamas militants surged into southern Israel on October 7 committing massacres and atrocities that left 1,200 people dead, and 230 hostages kidnapped to Gaza. Israel’s siege of Gaza that followed has killed 34,000, including thousands of children, says the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
One whistleblower told CNN that beatings were “not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge. It was punishment for what they did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”
Guards strip them down of “anything that resembles human beings,” a whistleblower said.
In a field hospital, wounded detainees were strapped to beds, dressed in diapers, and fed through straws, CNN reported.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Ran, headed the surgical unit at Gaza’s Indonesian hospital, a former prisoner in the Sde Teiman camp, told CNN: “When they removed my blindfold, I could see the extent of the humiliation and abasement, I could see the extent to which they saw us not as human beings but as animals.”
The facility operates under the Unlawful Combatants Law, granting the military broad powers to detain individuals without due process, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.
The law permits the military to detain people for 45 days without an arrest warrant, after which they must be transferred to Israel’s formal prison system (IPS).
Satellite images reveal a significant expansion of the Sde Teiman facility since the conflict began.
Accounts of detainee abuse are not unique to the Negev. In November, Business Insider’s Alia Shoaib reported on graphic videos appearing to show IDF soldiers abusing Palestinian detainees in the West Bank.
The videos depict IDF soldiers dragging blindfolded and bound Palestinian men on the ground, many half or completely naked.
Last week, a Palestinian doctor died in an Israeli prison after more than four months in detention, Palestinian prisoner associations said, per BBC News.
Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, 50, was the head of orthopedics at al-Shifa Hospital.
Israeli prison authorities said they were investigating the incident. No cause of death was given.
The UN’s stance on the treatment of prisoners entails that “all prisoners shall be treated with respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings.”
The IDF responded to CNN’s report with the following statement: “The IDF ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody. Any allegation of misconduct by IDF soldiers is examined and dealt with accordingly. In appropriate cases, MPCID (Military Police Criminal Investigation’s Division) investigations are opened when there is suspicion of misconduct justifying such action.”
Business Insider contacted the Israeli government for comment.
Currently, over 9,000 Palestinians are being held in conditions that rights groups say have drastically deteriorated since October 7.
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