IDF says it is probing deaths of several Gazans at its detention centers
Hundreds of Palestinians held at sites in southern Israel since Oct. 7; detainees reportedly blindfolded, handcuffed for most of day with lights on throughout night
The military said Tuesday that it is investigating the deaths of detainees who were arrested in military operations across the Gaza Strip during fighting with Hamas terrorists.
“We know of deaths of terrorists in military detention centers and they are under investigation,” a spokesman told AFP.
The army did not provide details regarding how many detainees had died or the circumstances of their deaths.
Hundreds of Palestinians are being held in detention centers in southern Israel, having been detained in military operations across Gaza since the war erupted on October 7, when Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians massacred in brutal atrocities, and taking around 240 hostages to Gaza.
On Tuesday, the Haaretz daily reported that “several” of the detainees had died at one of the Israeli detention facilities — the Sde Teiman base near the city of Beersheba.
The detainees held at the facility are “blindfolded and handcuffed for most of the day and the lights are on at the facility throughout the night,” the report said.
The detainees had been “involved in terrorist activities,” said the spokesman.
“Prisoners deemed not involved in terrorist activities are sent back to Gaza Strip,” he added.
Last week the army received condemnation after Israeli television showed scores of stripped Palestinian men sitting on a Gaza street in military custody.
One clip showed the arm of a soldier in the foreground, suggesting it was filmed by a member of the military.
In another clip, a group of blindfolded men are seen sitting with their hands tied behind their backs as Israeli soldiers watch them.
Earlier this month the army announced that more than “500 terrorists” had been arrested in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has claimed that since the start of the war 19,667 people have been killed, mostly civilians. These figures cannot be independently verified and are believed to include some 7,000 Hamas terrorists, according to Israel, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. Another estimated 1,000 terrorists were killed in Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
The IDF did acknowledge earlier this month that the ratio of civilians to combatants killed is two to one.
Amnesty demands probe into Gaza ‘enforced disappearances’
Relatedly on Wednesday, Amnesty International called for an urgent probe into Israel’s “enforced disappearance” of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, following reports of deaths in military detention centers.
“The Israeli military must urgently disclose the fate and whereabouts of everyone that it has detained since October 7,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.
“Israeli forces must specify the grounds of arrest for those detained and make every effort to provide families of those in its custody with information, particularly in light of the telecommunications blackouts that have cut off Gazans.”
Amnesty demanded an investigation into the “inhumane treatment and enforced disappearance” of the detainees from Gaza.
