A new report by Tel Aviv-based +972 Magazine has documented the
“systematic abuse and torture by Israeli soldiers” of dozens of
Palestinian men who were taken captive in various parts of Gaza in
December.

Israeli soldiers took videos and photos that circulated online,
showing large groups of men they had rounded up, stripped to their
underwear, handcuffed, and blindfolded. The men were lined up in rows,
sitting in the street, and later taken away in military trucks to
detention camps.

The report about their treatment by Israeli forces is based on
testimony given to +972 Magazine from four Palestinian men who were
later released, as well as testimony from 49 other men speaking with
Arabic news outlets.

“According to these testimonies, Israeli soldiers subjected
Palestinian detainees to electric shocks, burned their skin with
lighters, spat in their mouths, and deprived them of sleep, food, and
access to bathrooms until they defecated on themselves,” the report
said.

Further, “Many were tied to a fence for hours, handcuffed, and
blindfolded for most of the day. Some testified to having been beaten
all over their bodies and having cigarettes extinguished on their
necks or backs. Several people are known to have died as a result of
being held in these conditions.”

The report noted, “the vast majority of these detainees were civilians
and did not belong to the Hamas movement, as Israeli security
officials later confirmed.”

In one case, the Israeli army entered a neighborhood and demanded that
“All civilians must come down and surrender.”

The soldiers told the captives they had been arrested because “they
didn’t evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.”

Soldiers then lit some homes on fire. “Our house burned down in front
of my eyes,” one man said. The fire spread uncontrollably, forcing
soldiers to move the captive Palestinians away from the flames.

While speaking with a megaphone in front of dozens of men seated and
handcuffed in the street, one Israeli commander declared: “The Israeli
army has arrived. We destroyed Gaza [City] and Jabalia on your heads.
We occupied Jabalia. We are occupying all of Gaza. Is that what you
want? Do you want Hamas with you?”

Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza on 27 October, while the Israeli
air force has bombed Gaza since 7 October when Hamas launched an
attack on Israeli military bases and settlements surrounding the
besieged enclave.

The Israeli bombing campaign has killed over 22,000 Palestinians, the
majority women and children, in three months, in what many view as
genocide.

Last week, South Africa filed a suit against Israel at the
International Criminal Court (ICJ) under the Genocide Convention.

https://new.thecradle.co/articles/gazans-held-in-torture-camp-by-israeli-army-report