A child within the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli air strike on Al-Nusairat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE
Israel has imprisoned nearly 10,000 people from Palestine after arresting 15 people overnight Saturday amid the war in Gaza.
The Palestinian Commission for the Affairs of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners said in a statement Sunday that more than 9,550 people have been detained by Israel. That number is up from just shy of 9,300 about two weeks ago. Advertisement
The news came after Rami Abu Mustafa, a Palestinian prisoner recently released from Israeli detention, died in Gaza in recent days — earning the ire of the commission which noted that he had been “subjected to torture, unprecedented in its level and intensity.”
The commission called Mustafa a victim of “medical crimes” and the “crime of starvation” with the thousands of other Palestinians who are often held indefinitely without charges in Israel prisons.
Mustafa, 45, suffered from “mental problems” after an accident in his childhood but was shot an unspecified number of times by Israeli forces before he was detained.
“He lost the ability to see as a result, and the effects of torture were evident on him,” the commission said.
At least two women who have been detained by Israel are pregnant as conditions, including sexual harassment by their Israeli guards, continue to worsen for Palestinian prisoners. Advertisement
“The policy of abuse and punishments against female detainees is not needed, but it increased in its intensity since October 7, 2023,” the commission previously said.
The agency named the two pregnant women detained as Jihad Nakhlah and Aysha Ghidan. There are currently 78 women prisoners at the Damon prison.
More than 3,400 Palestinians are currently under “administrative detention,” which allows Israeli officials to hold them without charge or trial.
The human rights group Amnesty International has said the practice has “dramatically increased” since the war. Palestinians and their supporters often equate this practice to kidnapping.
Amnesty International has documented cases of Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinian detainees, including “severe beatings” and “humiliation.” The human rights group said that such torture had been occurring “for decades” before Hamas’ attack Oct. 7.
And, Israeli forces have continued to detain dozens of journalists and healthcare workers in Gaza.
