JERUSALEM: Amnesty Inter­natio­nal on Thursday called on Israel to end the indefinite detention of Gaza Palestinians and what it called “rampant torture” in its prisons.

“Israeli authorities must end their indefinite incommunicado detention of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip, without charge or trial ... (which is) in flagrant violation of international law,” the rights group said.

Amnesty called for the repeal of the Unlawful Combatants Law, amended following the beginning of the Gaza aggression, which allows Israeli forces to hold people without charge or trial for months.

The law “enables rampant torture and, in some circumstances, institutionalises enforced disappearance,” Amnesty said.

Arrested Palestinians quoted by AI said ‘Israeli military, intelligence and police forces subjected us to torture’

It said the law allows Israeli troops to arrest security suspects “for indefinitely renewable periods without having to produce evidence to substantiate the claims.” Amnesty said it had documented 27 cases of Palestinians, including five women and a 14-year-old boy, who were detained “for up to four and a half months” without being able to contact their families.

All 27 told of how “they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment”, the organisation said.

The detainees were seized across the Gaza Strip, from shelters, homes, hospitals and checkpoints.

Said Maarouf, a 57-year-old paediatrician detained for 45 days in the Sde Teiman camp in southern Israel, told Amnesty “that detention guards kept him blindfolded and handcuffed for the entire duration of his detention, and described being starved, repeatedly beaten, and forced to sit on his knees for long periods”.

Contacted by this news agency this week about similar accusations made by the Palestinian Authority minister for prisoner affairs, the Israeli military said it “rejects outright allegations concerning systematic abuse of detainees in the ‘Sde Teiman’ detention facility, including allegations of sexually abusing detainees.” It said that Israel’s detention conditions were within international law.

Under the amended Unlawful Combatants Law, Israel can detain prisoners for 45 days without an administrative process, compared with 96 hours previously.

Prisoners can be held for 75 days without a court hearing, up from 14 days, and this can be extended to 180 days.

All of the Palestinians quoted by Amnesty said that during their detention, “Israeli military, intelligence and police forces subjected them to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

The Israeli Prison Service told Israeli NGO Hamoked that as of July 1, there were 1,402 Palestinians detained under the law, excluding those held on an initial 45-day period without a formal order.

According to the Priso­ners Club, a Palestinian watchdog, about 9,600 Palestinians are currently in Israeli jails, including hundreds under administrative detention.

The NGO estimates that arrests have doubled since October 7 compared to the same period last year.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024