DaysofPal- The Palestinian Return Centre delivered an oral statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council, highlighting alleged violations against Palestinian detainees from Gaza held in Israeli detention facilities.
The intervention was presented under Agenda Item 7 during an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese. According to a statement released Friday, the center focused on serious abuses taking place inside Israeli detention sites, including facilities it said operate in secrecy.
Human rights lawyer Khaled Mahajneh delivered the statement, drawing on firsthand testimony from inside the Sde Teiman detention facility in the Negev desert. The site is one of several detention centers reportedly established following the start of the Gaza war.
Mahajneh said he entered the facility in his capacity as a lawyer and left with testimony describing conditions he characterized as extreme. He reported accounts of physical and psychological abuse, as well as systematic violations of detainees’ dignity.
Heartbreaking Testimony of Detained Journalist Mohammad Arab
The intervention featured the moving testimony of Palestinian journalist Mohammad Arab, a correspondent for Al-Araby TV, who has been detained for over two years without charge or trial. Mahajneh’s visit marked the first contact the Arab had received after one hundred days of isolation.
Upon meeting the lawyer, Arab’s first inquiry was about the safety of his wife and children. When he learned they were still alive, he broke down in tears; he had spent his entire detention believing his family had been killed and that he was alone in the world.
The report conveyed shocking details provided by the journalist regarding the treatment of prisoners from Gaza. These accounts include reports of sexual violence, the amputation of limbs due to prolonged restraint, and torture using various implements.
Detainees are reportedly kept shackled by their hands and feet for extended periods and are deprived of the most basic conditions for a dignified life. This living testimony reveals a reality that no human should endure, characterized by arbitrary detention, severe malnutrition, and the denial of clean clothing for months at a time.
In its concluding remarks, the Centre urged the international community and relevant UN mechanisms to take immediate action to save Palestinian prisoners from death and suffering.
The PRC demanded the opening of independent international investigations into allegations of torture, sexual violence, and other grave violations. Furthermore, the organization called for immediate international pressure to reveal the fate of all Palestinian detainees and to secure their legal and humanitarian protection, ensuring that those responsible are held accountable to prevent further impunity.
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