— Palestinian workers who were expelled back to Gaza from Israel last week have accused Israeli authorities of “torture,” alleging they were stripped naked, held in cages, viciously beaten and, according to one worker’s account, subjected to electric shocks.
“ took our phones and money, we couldn’t communicate with our families, we were given food on the floor in plastic bags,” he said. Many of the workers say they had no idea where they were taken. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, a human rights organization based in the occupied West Bank, many were held in two detention centers: one in Ofer near Ramallah and one in Salem near Jenin.
“If you happen to have a relative that is a police officer of Hamas you get beaten. I know people whose rib cage was completely broken, some people died of torture,” he told CNN.“Some people died on the way here because they were beaten and subjected to electric shocks,” Abu Darabeh said. He said he personally witnessed others who were detained with him being shocked.
The security official who spoke to CNN about these allegations said the IDF was investigating these videos and confirmed two – one showing IDF soldiers kicking a detained person and one showing a large group of detainees tied, blindfolded and humiliated – were genuine. The official said soldiers who took part in these videos were punished by the IDF.
Several of the workers told CNN they were blindfolded and handcuffed for long periods of time. Some said they were held in a fenced-off area outside, which they said meant it was boiling hot during the day and very cold at night. “Every now and then, they came to us and asked us to stand up. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up,” he said. “In one place, we were around 150 people in a metal cage. It smelled very bad, I think it was used for chickens or rabbits before,” he added.
“They didn’t do anything wrong; they were not charged with anything … yet many of them were interrogated and systematically tortured, abused, brutally beaten, they faced all kind of dehumanization and insults,” she added.