‘GIVE US A REASON TO BURN YOU ALIVE’: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT ISRAEL'S SECRET TORTURE PRISONS

AT LEAST 37 PALESTINIANS PRISONERS HAVE DIED FROM LACK OF CARE, MISTREATMENT OR MURDER SINCE OCT. 7, 2023

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Nearly 10,000 Palestinians are being held incommunicado in over-crowded Israeli prisons where they are being starved, beaten, tortured, denied medical attention, denied lawyers and deprived of contact with the outside world. The International Committee of the Red Cross can't even visit them.

At least 37 have died from lack of care, mistreatment or murder, so far.

That's according to accounts from released prisoners and the only civilians who can—sometimes—visit a few of the prisoners: lawyers from an Israeli non-governmental legal organization called the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

"We’ve documented nineteen different incidents of torture and abuse in seven different Israel Prison Service (I.P.S.) facilities by different I.P.S. units," Tal Steiner, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, told the New Yorker magazine in an interview published on Thursday. 

"All of which have led us to believe," Steiner added, "that we’re looking at a policy rather than just isolated incidents."

Israel's National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has direct authority over the I.P.S. On X, the social media website formerly known as Twitter, Ben-Gvir boasted: “In accordance with my instructions, the terrorists receive the most stringent conditions: eight handcuffed terrorists in a dark cell, iron beds, toilets in a hole in the floor, and Israel’s national anthem constantly playing in the background.”

Ben-Gvir added he hoped the Israeli government allowed "the death penalty law for terrorists" so "we can apply it to these vile murderers."

There are around 9,000 detainees from the West Bank being held in civilian prisons run by the I.P.S. A coalition of Israel human rights organizations submitted an "Urgent Appeal To the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" dated Feb. 16. The report alleged that prisoners in I.P.S. custody were subjected to "severe violence" and "widespread abuse."

Prison authorities "severely limited water, electricity, and food supply in all prison cells where Palestinians are held," according to the report. "All detainees who spoke with the organizations reported severe weight loss." They were punched, kicked and beaten with clubs. They were also spit on and urinated on. Guards beat men and women in the genitals. The beatings have  broken prisoners' ribs, nose and teeth.  Some prisoners "were forced to curse themselves and to crawl while carrying an Israeli flag on their back." 

They were also threatened.

“Give us a reason to burn you alive," one prison commander allegedly barked. Other officers threatened sexual violence: "We'll fuck your sister and your wife."

Many were threatened with more abuse if they revealed what was done to them.

As bad as the I.P.S. prisoners are treated, the 1,000 or so military detainees from the Gaza Strip have it worse. They are being held as alleged "unlawful combatants" in three military detention camps: Sede Teiman in the desert in southern Israel and Anatot and Ofar in the occupied West Bank.

"Those are military camps that have been turned into ad-hoc detention centers," Steiner says. "We don’t know the exact numbers because the Israel Defense Forces (I.D.F.) would not release them."

Not even Steiner's group can visit the prison camps.

"As far as we know, nobody from the outside world has entry into these detention sites," he says.

Nevertheless, through taking statements from released detainees, their lawyers, what minimal court records exist, formal complaints and photographs of injuries sustained, Steiner's group, news organizations and the coalition have collected enough evidence to document a grim portrait of Israel's secret torture camps.

The camps screen thousands of detainees. Most are released or transferred to civilian I.P.S. prisons. Those that aren't are held in open-air cages surrounded by elevated guard towers topped with machine-gun nests. They are blindfolded and handcuffed 24-hours-a-day, beaten, shocked, burned with cigarettes, starved and denied water but for an hour per day. 

Many have been captured in combat. Some arrive wounded. Medical care is minimal to non-existent—many Israeli hospitals refuse to treat them. 

From 5:00 a.m. until midnight they are forced to kneel. 

“Any attempt to change your position or remove the blindfold resulted in punishment, including standing with hands raised above the head for about three hours and beatings,” one prisoner, Ayman Lubbad, told The Guardian after his release.

The Israeli Security Agency conducts most of the formalized torture sessions. The I.S.A. has their own Black Sites where these are conducted. If officials say the prisoner has information that could prevent an attack, Israeli law allows them to be legally tortured: subjected to "enhanced interrogation" techniques.

Under more special laws enacted by Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Palestinian militia from the Gaza Strip, detainees designated "unlawful combatants" can be held without charges or even a warrant for up to 45 days. If a judge decides it, a detainee can be held for up to six months without being afforded the chance to even speak with a lawyer. 

That means whatever the military prisoners might report about their treatment or mistreatment is effectively censored. Torture victims are silenced. Many might die in the coming weeks; their stories never told.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has already condemned the "special measures" authorized by Israeli law.

“We are alarmed at Israel’s failure to prosecute, punish and redress the torture" of suspected Palestinian "terrorists," the Rapporteur said in 2021. "Addressing such abuse is not at the discretion of the Government or the judiciary, but constitutes an absolute obligation under international law.” 

Israel's current treatment of the military detainees "may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," according to the "urgent appeal" filed with the Rapporteur.

Steiner, from Israel's Public Committee Against Torture, said he wasn't optimistic about holding anyone accountable. Between 2001 and 2023, 1,400 complaints of torture were filed with Israel's Ministry of Justice but not a single one resulted in a criminal indictment, he said. 

"We’re not very optimistic because Israel already had a huge accountability gap with incidents of torture." 

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