Liberated Palestinian medic recounts torture in 'Israel's' Sde Teiman

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Reuters
17 Feb 2025 19:38
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Tarek Rabie Safi, who had been held in Sde Teiman, recounts tales from when he was imprisoned in the Israeli prison.

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Liberated prisoner Tarek Rabie Safi embraces his daughter after attaining his freedom from Israeli prisons, undated (Social Media)

Palestinian medic and ambulance worker Tarek Rabie Safi, who was recently liberated as part of the prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and "Israel", left Israeli prisons after enduring a year of abuse at the hands of Israeli occupation soldiers.

Safi, a 39-year-old father of two, was freed on Saturday along with 368 other Palestinian detainees following the release of three Israeli captives from Gaza. Gaunt-looking and tired, Safi recounted his imprisonment in the notorious detention center of Sde Teiman, where he was starved and tortured continuously or four months.

"(There was) no (decent) food, or drinks, or (medical) treatment. My arm was broken, and they did not treat me, and they did not get me checked by a doctor."

Safi, who was detained in March last year near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said a fellow prisoner in the same room had been martyred due to the treatment he received.

"A young man who was with me was martyred, Mussab Haniyeh, may God have mercy on him, in the same room. This young man was strong, but due to the lack of food, lack of drinks, and frequent torture, he was martyred in front of our eyes," Safi said.

After spending four months in the notorious detention center, Safi was transferred to other Israeli prisons before being released in Khan Younis, where he was reunited with his family.

The Palestinian Prisoner Association repeatedly blasted the Israeli occupation for committing "systematic crimes and revenge attacks" against Palestinian prisoners, particularly in the occupied West Bank’s Ofer prison.

Abdullah al-Zaghari, the association's chief, said the group had recorded harrowing testimonies, including severe beatings and cases where prisoners were shackled for extended periods without access to food or water.

#Palestinian medic and ambulance worker Tarek Rabie Safi, freed from an #Israeli jail as part of the #Gaza ceasefire deal, said he was underfed and abused during almost a year in captivity https://t.co/d1vCzUn67Z pic.twitter.com/pg6I52hBkv
— Arab News (@arabnews) February 17, 2025

Surging death toll of Palestinian prisoners

Since the start of "Israel's" genocidal war in October 2023, the number of detainee martyrs known by name in Israeli prisons has risen to 58, including at least 37 from Gaza. Rights organizations describe this as the deadliest period for Palestinian prisoners since 1967.

The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club accused Israeli authorities of not only killing detainees but also deliberately withholding information about the circumstances of their deaths and fabricating reports. Rights groups have extensively documented widespread abuses, including severe beatings, torture, food and medical deprivation, and sexual violence inside Israeli prisons.

The organizations stressed that Israeli forces are systematically carrying out executions within detention centers and that these killings represent an extension of "Israel's" genocidal war against Palestinians.

Palestinian rights groups have reiterated their call for urgent international action to hold Israeli leaders accountable for war crimes. They demand immediate intervention from global human rights organizations and the implementation of sanctions against Israel to push it into international isolation.

The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs' Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club urged the international community to take concrete measures to stop the ongoing abuses and prevent further deaths among Palestinian detainees.