GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Hamas Movement said in a statement on Wednesday that publishing footage by Israeli occupation forces showing shocking scenes of Israeli soldiers assaulting and abusing Palestinian prisoners on the anniversary of October 7 is “a failed attempt to erase the failure of the occupation” and “reveals the true criminal face of this Nazi occupier.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir broadcast on his account on X his visit to the Israeli Ofer prison, showing Israeli occupation soldiers maltreating Palestinian prisoners, claimed to be from “elite” forces affiliated with the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
“What our prisoners are being exposed to in Israeli prisons of repression, abuse, deprivation, and medical neglect, up to the announcement of their martyrdom, constitutes war crimes and clear violations of all laws and conventions on prisoners of war, and proves the extent to which the Israeli occupation violates morals and human values,” the Movement said.
Hamas added, “the escalation of abuses against prisoners, depriving them of their rights, and persisting in imposing aggressive policies against them, will not break their determination and strong will, vowing to remain loyal to the valiant prisoners.”
Hamas called on “the free world, human rights and international institutions to expose the crimes of the terrorist Nazi enemy against our prisoners and file lawsuits against its murderous criminal leaders for these horrific violations taking place in full view of the entire world.”
It also called on “the families of the prisoners, and all our people in the West Bank, to escalate their movement in support of the heroic prisoners, and to do everything in their power in various fields to support them.”
For its part, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said in a press statement on Wednesday that the Israeli officials are competing over who achieves a greater level of brutality to gain more support within the Israeli society, and to satisfy their desire for revenge, “without the slightest regard for human laws and conventions, and in violation of human dignity.”
The PPS explained that these crimes reached their peak since the beginning of the genocidal war on October 7, 2023, noting that since then, the Israeli occupation soldiers have been deliberately filming the Palestinian prisoners in humiliating and degrading conditions.
Some of such videos were broadcast by the Israeli media under the title “leaked videos”, among which a video clip that went viral showing a Palestinian detainee being sexually abused by a group of soldiers in the Sde Teiman military detention camp, it added.
The PPS warned of the impact of “the scenes on the feelings of prisoners’ families, which is part of the Israeli objectives aiming at affecting the prisoners’ heroic image.”
In April, Ben-Gvir called for applying the death penalty to Palestinian prisoners, saying, that until such a law is passed, the prisoners will receive food and drink sufficient only to keep them alive, and will have the minimum level of rest.
Since October 7, 2023, prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons have been subjected to horrific methods of torture, most notably the policy of starvation and deliberate medical neglect, which is another form of execution, as part of Israeli revenge policies against Palestinian prisoners.
The number of Palestinian prisoners who have been languishing in Israeli jails, since October 7, 2023, has exceeded 11,100 from the West Bank, including Jerusalem, according to the PPS.
