Gaza Media Office: 36 prisoners tortured to death in Israel’s jails since 7 October

At least 36 prisoners from the Gaza Strip detained by the Israeli military since 7 October have died due to torture and harsh conditions in Israeli prisons, the Gaza Media Office confirmed on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Office said another: “54 detainees from various Palestinian regions have died in Israeli prisons due to torture and inhumane detention conditions, amid systematic assaults on prisoners since the beginning of the genocidal war.”

It accused Israel of: “Committing ongoing crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearances.” The Gaza Media Office described Israeli prisons as: “Mass graves for thousands of Palestinian prisoners, ignored by international institutions.”

Based on testimonies from recently released detainees, the statement detailed numerous forms of torture and inhumane treatment, including forced stripping, prolonged binding and blindfolding, electrocution, systematic starvation and cutting the body with sharp tools. Other reported abuses include deprivations of sleep, bathing and medical care, dog attacks and exposure to extreme cold.

Read: Israel arrests 20 more Palestinians in West Bank raids

Since the beginning of the Israeli ground operations in Gaza on 27 October, Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians, including women, children and members of health and civil defence teams.

While a small number of the detainees have been released, the fate of the majority remains unknown, with no official statistics available.

Flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnations amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since a 7 October attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 37,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.