DayofPal– Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published Tuesday a new report on the “harrowing” physical, mental and sexual abuse of Palestinians by the Israeli occupation army in the occupied West Bank City of Hebron during the period between May and August 2024.
B’Tselem collected testimonies of over 20 Palestinians, men, women, teenagers and children, whom Israeli soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded on the streets while going about their daily business on flimsy pretexts such as photos of Palestinian flags found on their phones or allegations of stone-throwing.
B’Tselem described in its report titled ‘Unleashed‘, how “the wave of violence unleashed on Palestinians this past year has changed norms of conduct in the military,” adding that there has been a shift in the scope, type and severity of violence inflicted by Israeli forces on Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 Oct. 2023 in a shocking picture exposing the violent behavioural norms of Israeli soldiers.
“Victims gave harrowing accounts of physical and psychological abuse, including beatings, whipping, having cigarettes put out on their bodies, blows to their genitals, injection of an unidentified substance, prolonged binding and blindfolding, threats, insults and more,” the report said.
The scale of the violence “reflects a particularly brutal manifestation of a systematic, long-standing policy of oppression, expulsion and dispossession that lies at the root of the Israeli apartheid regime,” it added.
Ismail Jaber, a 22-year-old painter and decorator, was going home from the barbershop one afternoon in May when two soldiers ran over with their guns pointed at him. He was forced to kneel blindfolded and handcuffed on the street for 90 minutes before being beaten and taken to a military base, where he was again beaten repeatedly, cut with a knife, burnt with a lighter, and soldiers put guns to his head and told them they would kill him. He was released about five hours later.
“The soldier said if he caught me again, he’d come to my house, shoot me and rape my mother and sister,” he said. “There is no reason they picked me up. The only crime is being Palestinian.”
19-year-old Amir Jaber along with his father, Aref, 50, was detained and beaten again on his way home last week after talking to the Guardian and the German public broadcaster ARD. He said he had told friends beforehand he was going to meet journalists.
After searching their phones, Aref said the Israeli troops claimed that a photo of an army Jeep from Amir’s last detention, saved from Facebook, was illegal, and took the pair to a nearby military post. Both were beaten, as photos shared with the Guardian show.
Aref said soldiers told him: “You are Hamas” and swore at him, repeating questions about the photo of the Jeep and hitting and kicking him, before the father and son were let go three hours later.
The Israeli troops said Amir Jaber was “stalled for three hours” for questioning when photos of IDF forces were found on his phone. It said it was unaware of the allegations made by his father, and did not comment when asked whether it was connected to the fact that Amir had spoken to media about his experience in June.
Another interviewee, 53-year-old Yasser Abu Markhiyeh was detained and beaten in July after giving an interview to Al Jazeera about another detention a few weeks before.
A testimony from 14-year-old Muhammad ‘Abd Al-Hafiz Rajabi, who was attacked alongside his family in their home, detailed his brutal beating to B’Tselem.
“After several minutes of severe beating and cursing, the soldier hit me hard in the testicles with the barrel of his gun,” said Rajabi. “I passed out and don’t know what happened next. I woke up at Mohammad Ali Al Mohtaseb Hospital with doctors giving me first aid. I had bruises all over my body and swelling in my head.”
According to the report, many victims were forcibly taken to military areas, including military posts, facilities or watchtowers, and beaten by one or more soldiers, while others endured abuse inside checkpoints, military vehicles and inspection rooms.
In one case, 18-year-old Mahmoud ‘Alaa Ghanem was ordered to unlock his phone. The soldiers then attacked him inside a jeep after seeing an Instagram post of a fake picture showing an Israeli soldier with three hands saving babies on 7 October.
“One of the soldiers grabbed me by the hair and slammed my face into the back door, three times in a row. I felt that my mouth and nose were bleeding,” he was quoted as saying.
“One of them hit me hard in the testicles. I screamed in pain, and then he hit me harder in the same place. I begged him in the name of God to stop hitting me.”
In the report, sexual violence and humiliation, such as being forced to undress, beatings to their genitals and threats of rape, were also recounted by several victims.
B’Tselem explained “Soldiers are being urged to take more “proactive” and “offensive” actions… In practice, every soldier has been granted virtually unlimited power to use violent means of oppression. Much like the abuse running rampant in Israeli detention facilities for Palestinians; soldiers in the field, too, know they will not be held accountable for their conduct.”
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