In the absence of deterrent international measures, resistance is the shortest path to liberating our prisoners from Zionist detention centers
introduction:
we address you as political parties, organizations, international parliamentary, legal and judicial frameworks, media outlets, unions and popular bodies in order to continue your positive interaction in rejection of the Israeli-American war of genocide against the Palestinian people, in the International Day of Solidarity with the Gaza Strip and with the issue of prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons on 3 August.
It is not new that the Israeli occupation army practices torture against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, but the first new thing is the occupation army’s admission that dozens of detainees from Gaza died under torture. The second new thing is the broad Israeli political and partisan support that soldiers accused of torture and sexual assaults against Palestinian prisoners received. This is something we put before the parties of the world and the international judicial, legal, human rights and humanitarian frameworks, and in the form of the countries allied with Israel and partners with it in its aggression, and in the picture of the countries that are still… It views the issue of Israeli prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance as the central issue, without considering the suffering of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers and without making serious efforts to stop the war of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Detention is one of the most prominent strategies that the Israeli occupation employs against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. This procedure is meant to terrorize all societal groups: women, children, the elderly, students, workers, clerics, journalists and businessmen. And all of that is an attempt to break the will of the people and to deter the indigenous people of the land from their right of resistance in all its forms.
Moreover, this issue, a central issue in the Palestinian cause, is on the rise since the 7th of October 2023. Whether in terms of the escalation of torture methods and violence which resulted in countless deaths or in terms of the increasing numbers of captives. As the numbers of captives in West Bank and Jerusalem has reached unprecedented figures, according to recent statistics, exceeding 9600 detainees. Additionally, a large number of detainees, whose exact numbers are still unknown, have been arrested from the Gaza Strip, with estimates indication that the numbers have surpassed 5000 captives.
Days ago, the occupation forces released several captives from Gaza since these prisons are not equipped to hold such large numbers of prisoners. Recently, the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shabak) informed the Israeli government that these prisons are holding 21 thousand Palestinian prisoners when it can only hold up to 14 thousand. Which means that there are around 7000 people held captive in places that aren’t equipped to handle them.
Some of the freed prisoners reported that they endure daily humiliation while being tortured physically and psychologically. The captives bear inhumane treatment, they are forced to perform inhumane and humiliating acts and eat in undignified ways. According to reports published by the media, the Israeli occupation commits atrocious violations against detainees that are being held in secret detention centers in the Negev desert. Testimonies from 3 Israelis who worked there revealed that Palestinian detainees live in extremely harsh and inhumane conditions in a military base that has now become a detention center. Some media platforms quoted one of them saying that foul odors fill the detention center due to the cramped conditions.
According to Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the Shifaa hospital director in Gaza, after he was released, the captives are exposed to various forms of torture daily which led to the deaths of several captives after they were deprived of food and medicine. Moreover, the Israeli medical teams were complicit in mistreating the captives, some captives had their limbs amputated due to the horrible care provided. Others had their organs stolen from their bodies before being executed.
As for the Gaza Strip, there are no specific figures for the number of detainees. But it is certain that they have exceeded 5000 captives. The occupation forces did not differentiate between doctors or others; they arrested a huge number of medical crews in hospital and mistreated them. They also used the cruelest torture methods, including burying the captives alive, and executing them after they are done questioning them. And according to several detainees who survived detention, the occupation forces stripped the captives, forced them to wear white, numbered them by writing on their heads, and devised all kinds of torture and psychological abuse.
Moreover, in the west bank and since the 7th of October. The occupation has increased the frequency of raids in cities and camps and has expanded arrests to reach the point of storming universities and schools and arresting students. This happened at Al-Najah National University when the occupation forces stormed the campus and arrested several members of the student blocs, as well as Surra school in Nablus in which they arrested 4 minors. The number of detained minors has reached 650 minors that are exposed to various forms of humiliation and deprived from their childhood. Some of them are imprisoned in detention centers with Israeli criminals, putting their lives at risk.
The ‘Department of Foreign Affairs in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’ presents the practices of the occupation, especially regarding the arrests against the Palestinian people, to international organizations and legal frameworks particularly the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. It calls upon the political parties of the world and their legal, judicial, and humanitarian frameworks to place the issue of Palestinian captives on their daily agenda, considering it a crime that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and requests immediate stances in support of the Palestinian captives inside Israeli strongholds. It emphasizes that the issue of detention has become an important national issue and a common concern among all Palestinian political and popular movements, which agree that the practices of the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people, including arrests, give the Palestinian people the right to resort to all forms of resistance as it is the shortest path to liberate the prisoners and the most effective way to rid themselves of the occupation and its daily practices, including policies of detention, killing, settlement, and land theft.