Palestinian exposes Israeli jailers pouring acid on him in detention
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Mohammed Abu Tawila recalled how he would often collapse on the floor from the severity of the beatings by Israeli prison guards.
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Palestinian men who had been detained by Israeli forces arrive after their release for a checkup at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on July 1, 2024 (AFP)
Mohammed Abu Tawila is one of many Palestinians who have endured harsh circumstances in Israeli prisons. Abu Tawila, who was recently released, accused Israeli jailers of throwing acid and other chemicals on him during a questioning session.
Abu Tawila was kidnapped from Gaza severely beaten, and tormented with chemicals, in addition to being punched in the eye.
"They were ignited on my body for three days," he recalled of chemicals, including chlorine, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, soap, and air fresheners, used on him as a means of torture.
He described how “my eye was included [in the torture]. One of them would keep punching me in the eye while wearing gloves with something tough, that resembled bone."
Abu Tawila would subsequently collapse on the rubble from the brutal pounding.
When Israeli forces witnessed how his body reacted to the acid attack and other chemicals, they transferred him to the occupied West Bank.
Abu Tawila was in the hospital for several weeks before being transferred to the infamous Ofer military prison.
"Of course, there was also torture in the occupied territories, from beatings, to insults and humiliation, not to mention hunger and sitting in the cold."
“They [Israeli guards] would release dogs on us, storm in and beat us inside, tie our hands, and take us outside to the prison yards," he described, detailing how “they would also kick us, causing our faces to swell and bleed."
In August, an Israeli military doctor relayed disturbing information about the condition of Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman concentration camp in southern occupied Palestine, recounting tales of horrific treatment.
He explained that several detainees had just undergone significant operations or had sustained gunshot wounds, some of which occurred only hours before they arrived.
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 outset of the war on October 7. These individuals are brought to the facility for initial interrogation, as stated by the Israeli military.
59 Palestinians die in Israeli prisons
According to a statement by the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), at least 59 Palestinians in Israeli prisons have died since October 2023, 38 of them from Gaza.
The PPS accused Israeli authorities of concealing the deaths of several Palestinians in captivity.
Separately, the Commission of Detainee Affairs announced that Musab Hani Haniyeh was the latest victim to die in Israeli detention.
Haniyeh, 35, of the southern city of Khan Younis, was kidnapped on March 3, 2024. Haniyeh's relatives reported he was in good health prior to his incarceration.
