Sde Teiman horrors: 135 Palestinian bodies ‘Israel’ returned mutilated
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Images reviewed by The Guardian, too graphic to publish, show Palestinian victims blindfolded, bound, and one with a rope still around his neck.
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A hospital employee checks the remains of Palestinians released by “Israel” under a Gaza ceasefire and captive exchange deal, inside a refrigerated truck in front of the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza (AFP/Getty Images)
Gaza health officials say at least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians returned by "Israel" were previously held at the notorious Sde Teiman concentration camp in southern occupied Palestine, which is already under investigation for torture and deaths in custody.
Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, and a spokesperson for Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told The Guardian that documents found inside the body bags indicated all the remains originated from Sde Teiman. The site, previously exposed for keeping Palestinian detainees in cages, blindfolded, handcuffed, shackled to hospital beds, and forced to wear nappies, has long been associated with severe human rights abuses.
“The document tags inside the body bags are written in Hebrew and clearly indicate that the remains were held at Sde Teiman,” al-Bursh said. “The tags also showed that DNA tests had been carried out on some of them there.”
"Israel" has been allegedly conducting an ongoing criminal investigation into the deaths of 36 Palestinians who were detained at the same facility.
As part of the US-brokered truce in Gaza, Hamas has handed over the remains of several captives who died during the war, while "Israel" has so far returned the bodies of 150 Palestinians.
Images of the Palestinian victims reviewed by The Guardian, too graphic to publish, show several of the deceased blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs, and one with a rope around his neck.
Doctors: ‘Israel’ carried out killings and torture of Palestinians
Doctors in Khan Younis who examined the bodies said both autopsies and field observations “clearly indicate that Israel carried out acts of murder, summary executions and systematic torture against many of the Palestinians.” Health officials reported “clear signs of direct gunfire at point-blank range and bodies crushed beneath Israeli tank tracks.”
Eyad Barhoum, administrative director of the Nasser Medical Complex, said the bodies arrived “with no names but just codes,” adding that the process of identifying them had begun.
Evidence strongly suggests that many of the Palestinians were executed. Sde Teiman serves both as a detention camp notorious for deaths in custody and as a storage site for bodies abducted from Gaza. Human rights groups are calling for an investigation to determine how many victims died at the facility.
'Where is the world? All our hostages returned tortured and broken'
One of the returned bodies was that of 34-year-old Mahmoud Ismail Shabat from northern Gaza, whose remains bore marks of hanging and crushed legs, suggesting he was killed or injured in Gaza before being taken to Sde Teiman. His brother Rami identified him by a surgical scar, saying, “What hurt us the most was that his hands were tied, and his body was covered with clear signs of torture.” Their mother added, “Where is the world? All our detainees returned tortured and broken.”
Palestinian doctors say the fact that many of the bodies were blindfolded and bound points to torture and executions during detention at Sde Teiman, where, according to Israeli media and whistleblower reports, nearly 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza are being held.
A whistleblower who spoke to The Guardian described seeing a Gaza patient brought in “with a gunshot wound to the left chest,” blindfolded, handcuffed, and naked on arrival. Another patient arrived with a leg wound under similar conditions.
Another witness previously described how Gaza detainees were handcuffed to hospital beds, forced to wear nappies, and kept blindfolded. “These were patients who had been captured by the Israeli army while being treated in Gaza hospitals and brought here,” he said. “They had limbs and infected wounds. They were moaning in pain.”
In one case, a detainee’s hand was amputated “because the wrists had become gangrenous due to handcuffing wounds.”
Palestinians suffered sexual, physical abuse in Israeli detention
Palestinian journalist Shadi Abu Seido, who works for Palestine Today, said he was abducted from al-Shifa Hospital on 18 March 2024 and held for 20 months in Israeli custody, including 100 days at Sde Teiman.
“They stripped me completely naked for 10 hours in the cold,” he said in a video interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT. “I was then transferred to Sde Teiman and held there for 100 days, during which I remained handcuffed and blindfolded. Many died in detention, others lost their minds. Some had limbs amputated. They suffered sexual and physical abuse. They brought dogs that urinated on us. When I asked why I had been arrested, they answered: ‘We have killed all the journalists. They died once. But we brought you here and you will die hundreds of times.’”
Horrifying, yet not surprising
Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department at Physicians for Human Rights "Israel" (PHR), said, “The signs of torture and abuse found on the bodies of Palestinians recently returned by Israel to Gaza are horrifying, yet, sadly, not surprising.”
“These findings corroborate what Physicians for Human Rights Israel has exposed over the past two years about conditions inside Israeli detention facilities, particularly at the Sde Teiman camp, where Palestinians have been subjected to systematic torture and killings by soldiers and prison guards,” he stressed.
PHR stated, “The unprecedented number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody, together with verified evidence documented of deaths resulting from torture and medical neglect, and now the findings on the returned bodies, leave no doubt: an independent international investigation is urgently needed to hold those responsible in Israel accountable.”
The Guardian shared photographs of the bodies with an Israeli doctor familiar with the field hospital at Sde Teiman. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the physician said one image “shows the man had his hands tied likely with zip ties. There is a change in colour between the arms and the hands at the level of the zip ties, likely indicating ischemic changes due to excessive restraints.”
He added, “This might be someone who was either injured and captured (thus died under Israeli custody) or someone who died due to injuries inflicted after his capture.”
Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, a UN rapporteur and forensic specialist, urged that “a call should be made for independent and impartial forensic assistance to assist efforts to examine and identify the dead.”
When asked whether the Palestinian bodies had been taken from Sde Teiman, the Israeli occupation force said it was “not commenting on this matter.”
According to the UN, at least 75 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023.
