Israeli military doctor recounts appalling scenes from Sde Teiman
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The doctor explains how many detainees had just undergone significant operations or had sustained gunshot wounds, some of which occurred only hours before they arrived.
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An undated photo taken in winter 2023 shows blindfolded Palestinian prisoners at Sde Teiman concentration camp. (Breaking The Silence via AP)
An Israeli military doctor has relayed disturbing information about the harsh circumstances endured by Palestinian detainees at the notorious Sde Teiman concentration camp in southern occupied Palestine, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
The doctor's report, published on Friday, shed light on the horrific treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
The anonymous doctor, who worked at the hospital last winter, revealed horrific tales.
“In one hospitalization tent, there were no more than 20 patients. All had their four limbs shackled to old steel beds, like the ones used in our hospitals years ago. All were conscious and all were blindfolded all the time,” the doctor reported.
He explained that several detainees had just undergone significant operations or had sustained gunshot wounds, some of which occurred only hours before they arrived.
According to the doctor, every physician knows very well that such cases need at least a couple of days in critical care before being transferred to a ward. However, he divulged that "the person was sent to a pen in Sde Teiman two hours after surgery."
The doctor also reported on another detainee in critical condition suffering from sepsis, disclosing that "he should not have been there. Only patients who are completely stable are supposed to be hospitalized at Sde Teiman. But he was there and they said there was no alternative."
He described how holding prisoners without allowing the movement of any limbs, "blindfolded, naked, under treatment, in the middle of the desert" was "no less than torture."
When recalling his time at the camp, the doctor expressed that the experience felt "surrealistic" to him, detailing how "everything I'd been taught, all the years in university and hospitals, how to treat people – all that exists, but in an environment in which 20 people are being held naked in a tent. It's something you can't imagine.”
Accounts of torture and abuse coming out of the notorious Sde Teiman facility are nothing new. Reports of abuse at Sde Teiman have already emerged in both Israeli and Arab media, following an outcry from local and international rights groups about the horrific conditions there.
The military installation in southern occupied Palestine has gained notoriety as a site likened to a "New Guantanamo," where the Israeli army reportedly engages in the torture and killing of Palestinian civilians of all ages, including children, who have been abducted from various areas of the Gaza Strip since the onset of the war on October 7. These individuals are brought to the facility for initial interrogation, as stated by the Israeli military.
Around two months ago, The New York Times revealed in a report how two of its journalists spent three months interviewing Israeli soldiers who worked at Sde Teiman and Palestinians detained there. One of the journalists visited the site, providing additional insight into "Israel's" policy of systematic torture and abuse since October 7. It further challenges the Israeli government's repeated claims that it operates according to accepted international practices and laws.
It is also worth noting that the details in the journalist's account align with previous reports from prominent media outlets.
One scene from "Israel's" "Guantanamo Bay", depicts how "men sat in rows, handcuffed and blindfolded, unable to see the Israeli soldiers who stood watch over them from the other side of a mesh fence, They were barred from talking more loudly than a murmur, and forbidden to stand or sleep except when authorized. A few knelt in prayer. One was being inspected by a paramedic. Another was briefly allowed to remove his handcuffs to wash himself. The hundreds of other Gazan detainees sat in silence. They were all cut off from the outside world, prevented for weeks from contacting lawyers or relatives," the NYT journalist echoed, adding, "This was the scene one afternoon in late May at a military hangar inside Sde Teiman."
Released Palestinians recount worsening abuse in Israeli prisons
Frequent beatings, sexual assault, and violation of basic human rights characterize the conditions of Israeli prisons, which have significantly worsened since the beginning of the occupation's daily aggression in Gaza on October 7.
The Associated Press (AP) conducted interviews with five recently released Palestinian prisoners, recounting their harsh experiences in Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's facilities, who has boasted that prisons will no longer be "summer camps" under his leadership.
Although AP included accounts from five Palestinians in its article, one of the prisoners, Muazzaz Abayat, was too weak to recount his experience following his release in July after serving a six-month sentence at the Naqab prison, due to the regular beatings he faced. The former detainee was described as frail-looking, unable to focus, and barely had the energy to speak for several minutes.
“At night, he hallucinates and stands in the middle of the house, in shock, or remembering the torment and pain he went through,” his cousin, Aya Abayat, said.
Though the other four accounts couldn't be independently verified by the news agency, the victims detailed similar experiences through their lengthy interviews, with one interviewee requesting anonymity for fear of being re-arrested. According to AP, the descriptions matched reports from human rights groups that have documented abuse in Israeli prison facilities.
Leaked Sde Teiman video proves IOF have documented crime archive: PPS
In a related context, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) affirmed that the leaked video exposing Israeli occupation soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza proves that "Israel" possesses a vast documented archive of all of its crimes in the notorious Sde Teiman concentration camp.
According to the PPS, the Israeli occupation intentionally leaked the footage to direct all focus on Sde Teiman, amid talks of shutting it down.
This could show the Israeli strategy of shedding light on Sde Teiman to sidetrack backlash from other prisons and detention centers, as confirmation from the PPS further proves that the IOF commit systematic and equally horrific crimes against Palestinian detainees in all their prisons.
The PPS gave the example of the Naqab prison, where Palestinian detainees suffered various and extreme forms of sexual abuse.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society called on the United Nations, once again, for an impartial international investigation into the systematic torture and abuse perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
It urged international organizations investigating the issue to request recordings from surveillance cameras in Israeli detention facilities, which would undoubtedly reveal more evidence of the horrific crimes committed against detainees based on testimonies.
