On November 22, 2023, Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital—the largest hospital in Gaza—was aiding a World Health Organization (WHO) convoy evacuating “severely ill” patients from Al-Shifa, which was under heavy assault by Israel. Israeli military stopped the convoy for six hours. Dr. Salmiya was “detained and taken for questioning” by Shin Bet (Israeli intelligence). 

And then Dr. Salmiya disappeared! For seven months, no one knew where he was, whether he was alive or dead, and what charges he faced, if any. Israel claimed to have “evidence showing that Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control centre.” No such evidence existed then and none exists now,¹ and in the end Salmiya was released without any charges.

This outrageous arrest of a prominent hospital administrator—someone crucial to saving the lives of Palestinians injured in Israel’s genocidal assault—was shocking. It telegraphed a message that in Israel’s eyes, there is no such thing as an “innocent Palestinian,” and that even medical workers are “legitimate” targets. 

Then, on July 1, another shock—Dr. Salmiya reappeared, one of 50 detained Palestinians unexpectedly released (reportedly due to overcrowding), and spoke to the media about his ordeal and that of others. 

Daily Torture, Amputations, Beatings, Starvation

Salmiya told the world that detainees routinely suffered “severe torture.” He talked about a regimen of starvation: “For two months, no prisoner ate more than a loaf of bread a day.” He reported that detainees were denied medical treatment and that Israeli military doctors “amputated the feet of several prisoners… suffering from diabetes symptoms due to the lack of medical treatment.” Salmiya said he personally “was repeatedly subjected to hitting on the head, causing bleeding multiple times. There was almost daily torture in the Israeli prisons. The doctor there beats the detainees, and the nurse beats the detainees.”² 

Salmiya’s comments confirmed reports that had already begun to leak out, and encouraged others to speak out. Here is just some of the truly horrific picture that is emerging about conditions facing tens of thousands³ of Palestinians swept up by Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank.

Depraved Inhuman Conditions

Witnesses describe daily, minute-to-minute existence that amounts to torture. Almost all detainees are kept handcuffed and blindfolded all or most of the time—for months on end, even when eating or using the bathroom. There are accounts of limbs being amputated because of damage from the cuffs.⁴ Inmates are not allowed to talk, to pray or read the Quran, stand up, or even sleep without permission. Violations of rules bring beatings. One man was beaten on his abdomen until he vomited blood. His “crime”? Peeking out from under his blindfold.

Inmates are basically on a starvation diet—bread, maybe some yoghurt cheese, perhaps some cucumber. Three of eight men interviewed by the New York Times reported losing over 40 pounds during detention. 

Detainees are given between one and four minutes (depending on the facility holding them) to shower once a week. And one to four minutes daily to use the toilet. Exceeding the time limit means more beatings or electric shocks. The fear of this is so great that some inmates refuse to take showers at all.

Random Arrests, Barbaric Interrogations, Sadistic Torture

Fadi Bakr, a law student from Gaza City, tells how he was searching for flour in his old neighborhood (which he had been bombed out of) when he was wounded by gunfire and then picked up by Israeli soldiers on “suspicion.” They stripped him naked, stole his phone and savings, beat him, stuck a gun in his face and screamed: “Confess now or I will shoot you.” Fadi kept telling them he was a civilian, to no avail. In detention, wearing only a diaper, interrogation went on for about four days, with every denial being met with a beating. Bakr says, “I consider them the worst four days of my entire life.”

But that was routine—the extremes are much worse. Younis al-Hamlawi, 39, a senior nurse at Al-Shifa hospital, reported that “a female officer had ordered two soldiers to lift him up and press his rectum against a metal stick that was fixed to the ground. Mr. al-Hamlawi said the stick penetrated his rectum for roughly five seconds, causing it to bleed and leaving him with ‘unbearable pain.’”

Faraj Attiyeh Al-Saman described sadistic psychological torture. “They would show us photos of our relatives’ bodies, pictures of our families and children… and say: ‘Look at your children, we killed them.’ They would show us pictures of our wives, our sisters, and tell us that they had taken them and done this and that to them.”

Then there is Moazaz Obaiat, a Palestinian from Bethlehem, shown in the images below before and after detention. He says, “I was stabbed on December 4. I was subjected to attempted murder in Ofer prison.”

Unfortunately, we could go on and on with these horrors. But the essential point is this: Israel is systematically sweeping up thousands of Palestinians—no one is sure how many—and holding them in conditions where they are being starved, terrorized and tortured on a routine basis. 

On top of that, they are completely isolated. Israel allows no contact with colleagues or families, many of whom assume their loved ones are dead. It does not allow inspection by the International Red Cross to any prisons.⁵ The first and only visit by a journalist to Sde Teiman was a brief “guided tour” in May, six months after it became a large-scale detention center.⁶ 

The first attorney to visit a client at Sde Teimen—for 45 minutes—was Khaled Mahajneh, on June 19, 2024. His client (a reporter for Al Araby TV) was dragged in to see him, “blindfolded… with his arms and legs tied.” He didn’t even know what prison he was in.⁷ And there have been no known trials of any of the Palestinians arrested in Gaza since October 7.

Israeli Denials Are Worth…?

Of course, Israel denies everything and says that detainees are treated humanely and legally. But it has to be said, bluntly, scientifically, and without exaggeration: Israel’s “denials” are worth less than dogshit. If there were any truth to Israel’s denials, if all these allegations were largely false, Israel would welcome—rather than obstruct or forbid—visits by the International Red Cross, journalists and attorneys.

In fact, on July 2, after this news began to break, Israel’s Minister of Security Ben Gvir said the quiet part out loud, posting on X⁸ that “Since I assumed the position of Minister of National Security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in the prisons...”

He also boasted that “...since October, 2,500 new prisons have been added. Another project began last April, and it includes the construction of 936 additional prisons…” 

And the most chilling part of all, Ben Gvir argues, “I have already proposed a much simpler solution [than building more prisons] of enacting a punishment Death to terrorists, which will solve the overcrowding issue…” [emphasis added.] (NOTE: To genocidal Zionists like Ben Gvir, “Palestinian” and “terrorist” mean the same thing.)

A Final Point…

Finally, it is important to note that when Dr. Salmiya’s release triggered broad exposure of systematic torture in Israeli jails and detention centers, it “sparked outcry in Israel and was criticized across the political spectrum”—from uber-Nazis like Ben Gvir, to Prime Minister Netan-Nazi, to the so called “moderate” leader, Benny Gantz. Was this “outcry” about the revelations of horrible torture of innocent people? 

NO, they were all outraged that these innocent people had been released at all, and that they were telling the truth about Israel’s concentration camps and reaching the world with that truth.

What does that tell us about the nature of the Zionist regime… and of the U.S. imperialists who back it to the hilt?