The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights has issued a warning about “grave” violations against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including “physical and psychological torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment, medical neglect, and starvation policies”, Al Jazeera reports.

Based on a recent visit to the Naqab Prison, located in southern Israel, by Al Mezan’s lawyer, the group said that torture and abuse were widespread and not confined to the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility, where a serious sexual assault on a Palestinian prisoner led to the arrest of several Israeli soldiers.

According to the rights group, Israeli authorities are currently holding approximately 600 residents of Gaza in deplorable conditions at Naqab and some estimate the number could be as high as 900.

“Israeli authorities have abused Palestinians in their custody for over ten months now, amid international silence and the absence of accountability,” Al Mezan said in a statement.

“Palestinian residents of Gaza are treated as ‘human animals’, demonstrating that the dehumanizing and genocidal rhetoric employed by the highest levels of the Israeli leadership to characterize Palestinians as a group was embraced throughout all ranks within the military and the IPS [Israeli Prison Service],” it added.