What of Gaza’s ‘other hostages’ — the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel without charge?

Analysis What of Gaza’s ‘other hostages’ — the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel without charge?
Badr Dahlan, who was released on June 20 by the Israeli army, appeared to be in a state of shock as he answered questions at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. (Getty Images)
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Updated 26 June 2024
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What of Gaza’s ‘other hostages’ — the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel without charge?

What of Gaza’s ‘other hostages’ — the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel without charge?
  • Survivors of Israeli detention describe a pattern of beatings, torture and abuse without access to family or lawyers
  • NGOs have reported a dramatic rise in the number of Palestinians incarcerated without charge or trial since Oct. 7

LONDON: A disturbing video emerged on social media last week of a Palestinian man identified as 29-year-old Badr Dahlan.

Wide-eyed and rocking back and forth as he spoke, Dahlan appeared to be in a state of shock as he answered questions at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, shortly after his release from Israeli custody.

Dahlan, described by those who knew him as “a socially active and beloved young man,” appeared utterly transformed by the month he had spent in Israeli custody since he was seized in Khan Younis.

He described a pattern of beatings, torture and abuse that has become familiar to NGOs monitoring the dramatic increase in the number of Palestinians being incarcerated without charge or trial since the Gaza conflict began last October.




Badr Dahlan (L) and other detainees were seen to be weakened and had scars on their bodies following their release on June 20. (Getty Images)

As the world’s attention continues to be focused on the remaining hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, the plight of “the other hostages” — thousands of innocent Palestinian adults and children seized and held by Israel without charge — is largely ignored.

“There are currently about 9,200 prisoners in total from the West Bank and the Occupied Territories,” said Jenna Abu Hsana, international advocacy officer at Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO Addameer — the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

“Of those, we believe about 3,200 are administrative detainees.”

Administrative detention “is basically a tool that is used by the occupation to indefinitely detain Palestinians for a prolonged period of time,” in prisons run by the Israel Prisons Service,” she said.

Detainees are charged and “tried” by military courts, but the process bypasses all norms of internationally accepted judicial procedure.

“There isn’t really a ‘charge’ because no evidence is presented against the detainee,” said Abu Hsana. “Any so-called evidence is kept in a secret file to which the detainee and their lawyer do not have access.”




Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees, in Gaza, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. (AP)

Incarceration can last up to six months at a time and can then be extended for another six months at the discretion of the military.

Originally, the case against people held under this law had to be judicially reviewed within 14 days, but in December this was extended to 75 days. Simultaneously, the amount of time for which a prisoner could be denied a meeting with an attorney was raised from 10 days to 75 or, with the court’s approval, up to 180 days.

This is an invidious situation, says B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, which “leaves the detainees helpless — facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted.”

Israel “routinely uses administrative detention and has, over the years, placed thousands of Palestinians behind bars for periods ranging from several months to several years, without charging them, without telling them what they are accused of, and without disclosing the alleged evidence to them or to their lawyers.”

The situation in Gaza is slightly different, in that detainees held there since October have been arrested and held incommunicado in military camps under Israel’s Law on Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants, which was introduced in 2002.

But the effect is the same as for those being held under administrative detention. “Detainees can be held in these military camps for prolonged periods of time, with no charge and no evidence,” said Abu Hsana.

Before Oct. 7, Israel was holding about 5,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Occupied Territories in its prisons, of whom roughly 1,000 were being held under administrative detention.

Since Oct. 7, however, “the numbers have escalated,” said Abu Hsana. “There are currently over 9,200 detainees in the prisons, and of these 3,200 are being held under administrative detention.”

However, NGOs are struggling to determine exactly how many people have been taken in Gaza.

“We don’t have any accurate numbers because the occupation refuses to release any information, but we are told that it’s currently around 3,000 to 5,000 detainees.”

Most are held at one of two military sites — Camp Anatot, near Jerusalem, and Sde Teman, near Beersheba in the northern Negev.




Prisoners at Sde Teiman detention facility. NGOs are struggling to determine exactly how many people have been taken in Gaza since Oct. 7. (X)

Access to families and even lawyers is denied throughout a prisoner’s detention in these camps. But as some have been released over the past few months, shocking details have begun to emerge.

“For the detainees from Gaza, it’s especially difficult because they are handcuffed and blindfolded throughout their entire detention, from the moment of their arrest until they’re released, and the plastic zip ties being used are very tight and have caused many serious injuries,” said Abu Hsana.

In April, Israeli newspaper Haaretz obtained a copy of a letter sent to Israel’s attorney general and the ministers of defense and health by a distressed Israeli doctor at Sde Teman.

“Just this week,” the doctor wrote, “two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event.”

He added: “I have faced serious ethical dilemmas. More than that, I am writing to warn you that the facilities’ operations do not comply with a single section among those dealing with health in the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law.”

None of the detainees, he added, were receiving appropriate medical care.

All this, he concluded, “makes all of us — the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defense ministries — complicit in the violation of Israeli law, and perhaps worse for me as a doctor, in the violation of my basic commitment to patients, wherever they are, as I swore when I graduated 20 years ago.”




A member of the Israeli security forces stands next to a blind-folded Palestinian prisoner on the border with Gaza near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on October 8, 2023. (AFP)

UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, recently published a scathing report condemning the treatment of Palestinians who had been held, without charge or trial, and later released.

The report was based on information obtained through UNRWA’s role in coordinating humanitarian aid at the Karem Abu Salem crossing point between Gaza and Israel, where Israeli security forces have been regularly releasing detainees since early November 2023.

By April 4, UNRWA had documented the release of 1,506 detainees, including 43 children and 84 women. Detainees reported having been sent multiple times for interrogations and enduring extensive ill-treatment.

This included “being subjected to beatings while made to lie on a thin mattress on top of rubble for hours without food, water or access to a toilet, with their legs and hands bound with plastic ties.”

Several detainees, said UNRWA, “reported being forced into cages and attacked by dogs. Some released detainees, including a child, had dog bite wounds on their body.”




Israeli soldiers detain blindfolded Palestinian men in a military truck on November 19, 2023. (AFP)

Other methods of ill-treatment reported included “physical beatings, threats of physical harm, insults and humiliation such as being made to act like animals or getting urinated on, use of loud music and noise, deprivation of water, food, sleep and toilets, denial of the right to pray and prolonged use of tightly locked handcuffs causing open wounds and friction injuries.”

In a statement provided to the BBC in response to UNRWA’s findings, the Israel Defense Forces said: “The mistreatment of detainees during their time in detention or whilst under interrogation violates IDF values and contravenes IDF and is therefore absolutely prohibited.”

It rejected specific allegations including the denial of access to water, medical care and bedding. The IDF also said that claims regarding sexual abuse were “another cynical attempt to create false equivalency with the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas.”

Israeli peace activists have protested outside the camp, holding banners reading “Sde Teman torture camp” and “Israel makes people disappear.” In an apparent attempt to dampen growing unease about its treatment of detainees, earlier this month (June) Israel invited The New York Times “to briefly see part of” the facility.

If the authorities were hoping for a stamp of approval, they were to be disappointed.




Israelis protest at Sde Teman “Torture camp” where Palestinians are held. (X)

On June 6, the paper described “the scene one afternoon in late May at a military hangar inside Sde Teman.” In barbed-wire cages, the paper reported, “men sat in rows, handcuffed and blindfolded … barred from talking more loudly than a murmur, and forbidden to stand or sleep except when authorized.”

All were “cut off from the outside world, prevented for weeks from contacting lawyers or relatives.”

By late May, the NYT was told, about 4,000 Gazan detainees had spent up to three months in limbo at Sde Teman, including “several dozen” people captured during the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7.

After interrogation, “around 70 percent of detainees had been sent to purpose-built prisons for further investigation and prosecution.

“The rest, at least 1,200 people, had been found to be civilians and returned to Gaza, without charge, apology or compensation.”

On May 23, a group of Israeli human rights organizations petitioned the Supreme Court calling for the camp’s closure. The government has agreed to scale back activities there and the court has ordered the state to report back on conditions at the facility by June 30.

But protesters and NGOs say the scandal of Sde Teman is just the tip of the iceberg.




Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian man as he attempts to attend the first Friday noon prayer of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on March 15, 2024. (AFP)

“Scores of testimonies reveal pervasive torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees, with numerous reports of deaths in Israeli prisons and military camps, blatantly violating the absolute prohibition of torture under international law,” said Miriam Azem, international advocacy and communications associate with Adalah — the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

“Thousands of Palestinians are held under administrative detention without charge or trial, based on secret evidence, in deplorable and life-threatening conditions.

“Hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza remain held incommunicado, without access to lawyers or family, their whereabouts unknown, under a legal framework that permits enforced disappearances, constituting a grave violation of international law.

“The urgency of the current moment demands immediate and resolute intervention from the international community. Failure to act poses a threat to Palestinian lives.”

The children in Israel’s prisons
Ongoing hostage-for-prisoners exchange opens the world’s eyes to arrests, interrogations, and even abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities

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Palestinian detainee says he was tortured in Israeli detention center

Palestinian detainee says he was tortured in Israeli detention center
Updated 4 sec ago
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Palestinian detainee says he was tortured in Israeli detention center

Palestinian detainee says he was tortured in Israeli detention center
KHAN YOUNIS: Palestinian medic and ambulance worker Tarek Rabie Safi, freed from an Israeli jail as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, said he was underfed and abused during almost a year in captivity.
Safi, a 39-year-old father of two, was released along with 368 other Palestinian detainees on Saturday, after Hamas freed three Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages have both complained of harsh treatment in the hands of their captors.
“I was held by the Israeli army in the Gaza ‘envelop’, which is Sde Teiman where I stayed for four months (and I was subjected to) torture of our bodies (physical torture) and hunger,” a gaunt-looking Safi said.
“(There was) no (decent) food, or drinks, or (medical) treatment. My arm was broken, and they did not treat me, and they did not get me checked by a doctor.”
The Israeli military rejected the claims in an emailed response to Reuters’ queries, saying detainees are given food and drink regularly and have access to medical care, and that if necessary, they are transferred to a medical facility with advanced capabilities.
Safi, who was detained in March last year near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said a detainee who was in the same room with him had died as a result of his treatment.
“A young man who was with me was martyred, Mussab Haniyeh, may God have mercy on him, in the same room. This young man was strong, but due to the lack of food, lack of drinks and frequent torture, he was martyred in front of our eyes,” Safi said.
After four months in the detention center, Safi was moved to other Israeli jails until his release in Khan Younis, where he was reunited with his family in emotional scenes.
The Israeli military said it is aware of incidents of detainee deaths, but cannot comment since investigations are pending.
The Palestinian Prisoner Association, which documents Israeli detentions of Palestinians, said that Israel is carrying out “systematic crimes and revenge attacks” against prisoners, most recently in the Israeli-occupied West Bank’s Ofer prison.
Abdullah Al-Zaghari, head of the association, said that the group had documented horrific testimonies, including severe beatings and shackling prisoners for days and weeks without food or water.
Reuters is unable to independently confirm the reports.
Human rights group Amnesty International said last year that 27 released detainees it had interviewed consistently described being subjected to torture on at least one occasion during their arrest.

Israel will leave troops in 5 locations in Lebanon after Tuesday deadline, military spokesperson says

Israeli army forces patrol in the village of Kfarshuba in southern Lebanon on February 17, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli army forces patrol in the village of Kfarshuba in southern Lebanon on February 17, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 25 min 29 sec ago
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Israel will leave troops in 5 locations in Lebanon after Tuesday deadline, military spokesperson says

Israeli army forces patrol in the village of Kfarshuba in southern Lebanon on February 17, 2025. (AFP)
  • “We need to remain at those points at the moment to defend Israeli citizens, to make sure this process is complete,” military spokesperson said
  • Lebanon’s President Aoun said Monday he was “afraid that the complete withdrawal will not be achieved tomorrow”

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israel will keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past a February 18 deadline for them to withdraw, a military spokesperson said on Monday, as Israeli leaders sought to reassure northern residents that they can return home safely.
Under a truce deal brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah since early October.
That deadline was extended to February 18, but Israeli and Lebanese officials as well as foreign diplomats had anticipated that the military would retain some troops on parts of the Lebanese side of the border.
“We need to remain at those points at the moment to defend Israeli citizens, to make sure this process is complete and eventually hand it over to the Lebanese armed forces,” military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told a briefing with reporters, adding that the move was in accordance with the mechanism of the ceasefire agreement.
He said the locations were close to Israeli communities or occupying strategic vantage points overlooking Israeli towns like Metula, at the northernmost point of Israel.
“Basically the security situation is very, very complex,” he said.
A Lebanese official and two foreign diplomats said Israeli troops would likely leave villages in south Lebanon but stay in overlook points to reassure residents of northern Israel who are set to return home on March 1.
Tens of thousands of people were displaced from northern Israel by Hezbollah rocket fire and more than a million people in Lebanon fled Israeli air strikes in the year-long war conflict playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.
The fighting ended in late November with a truce ordering Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon, Hezbollah fighters and arms to leave and Lebanese troops to deploy.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that only “official military and security forces” in Lebanon can carry arms and that the Lebanese government must prevent any transfers of arms or related material to non-state armed groups.
Its language — sharper than previous United Nations Security Council Resolutions — appears to spells out ways that the Lebanese state will be expected to constrain Hezbollah, diplomats and analysts said.
The deal’s implementation is being overseen by a committee chaired by the US and France.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who has said Israeli troops should leave by the February 18 deadline, said on Monday he was “afraid that the complete (Israeli) withdrawal will not be achieved tomorrow.”
The two diplomats said talks were still underway on alternatives to Israeli troops staying, including possibly deploying more UN peacekeepers to the border.
France has proposed that UN forces including French troops replace Israeli forces at key border points.
Hezbollah said on Sunday that Israeli forces still in Lebanon after Tuesday would be considered an occupying force.
Israel occupied southern Lebanon for 22 years, withdrawing in 2000 after continued attacks on its positions in occupied Lebanese territory by Hezbollah, founded in 1982 to counter Israel’s invasions.
In the latest war, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire for nearly a year, mostly around the border. Israel significantly escalated in September, eliminating much of Hezbollah’s top leadership in air strikes and sending ground troops into south Lebanon.


UN appeals for $6 billion for Sudan crisis aid in 2025

UN appeals for $6 billion for Sudan crisis aid in 2025
Updated 17 February 2025
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UN appeals for $6 billion for Sudan crisis aid in 2025

UN appeals for $6 billion for Sudan crisis aid in 2025
  • The aim is to provide assistance to nearly 26 million people this year, UN bodies say
  • Civil war has displaced 12 million people, of whom around 3.5 million have fled the country

GENEVA: The UN appealed Monday for $6 billion to provide desperately-needed aid to people in war-ravaged Sudan and millions of refugees fleeing “appalling” conditions.
The aim is to provide assistance to nearly 26 million people this year, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA and refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint appeal.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been locked in a brutal conflict between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The UN agencies said the civil war has displaced 12 million people, of whom around 3.5 million have fled the country.
They stressed that at the same time, nearly two-thirds of Sudan’s population needs emergency aid, as swathes of the country face famine conditions.
“Sudan is a humanitarian emergency of shocking proportions,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.
“Famine is taking hold. An epidemic of sexual violence rages. Children are being killed and injured. The suffering is appalling.”
Famine conditions have already been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including in displacement camps in Darfur and in the western Nuba Mountains, the UN statement said.
And “catastrophic hunger is expected to worsen by May when the lean season begins,” it warned.
The UN said it was appealing for $4.2 billion to reach nearly 21 million people inside Sudan with life-saving aid and protection.
Fletcher said the UN plan would provide “a lifeline to millions.”
The United Nations said it would also need $1.8 billion to support 4.8 million people – both Sudanese refugees and their host communities – in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.
“Today, one-third of Sudan’s entire population is displaced,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in the statement, highlighting that “the consequences of this horrific and senseless conflict spread far beyond Sudan’s borders.”
The UN cautioned that without immediate funding, two-thirds of refugee children would be denied access to primary education, “threatening an entire generation.”
And “up to 4.8 million refugees and host community members will continue to face severe food insecurity, with at least 1.8 million going without food assistance,” it said, warning that “already strained health systems may collapse.”
Last year, humanitarian organizations received $1.8 billion for Sudan – 66 percent of the $2.7 billion requested – and managed to reach more than 15.6 million people across the country.
They also provided life-saving food assistance to over a million people in neighboring countries, as well as medical support to half a million and protection services to over 800,000, the statement said.


Israel kills Hamas official in southern Lebanon

Civil defence workers and Lebanese soldiers gather next to remains of burned car that was hit by an Israeli drone strike.
Civil defence workers and Lebanese soldiers gather next to remains of burned car that was hit by an Israeli drone strike.
Updated 55 min 32 sec ago
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Israel kills Hamas official in southern Lebanon

Civil defence workers and Lebanese soldiers gather next to remains of burned car that was hit by an Israeli drone strike.
  • Israeli military said Muhammad Shaheen was the head of the operations department of Hamas in Lebanon
  • A Hamas official confirmed Shaheen’s killing to Reuters

BEIRUT: Israel killed on Monday a Hamas leader in southern Lebanon’s Sidon area, the Israeli military and a Hamas official said.
The military said Muhammad Shaheen was the head of the operations department of Hamas in Lebanon and that he had recently been involved in promoting “terrorist plots” with Iranian direction and funding from Lebanese territory against Israeli citizens.
A Hamas official confirmed Shaheen’s killing to Reuters.
An Israeli strike on a car in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon targeted an official in the Palestinian militant group, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters earlier.
Lebanon’s state news agency said rescuers had removed one body from the car but did not identify the victim.
The Israeli military has been carrying out strikes against members of Hamas, allied Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and other factions in Lebanon, in parallel with the war in Gaza.
Those armed groups have launched rockets, drones and artillery attacks across the border into northern Israel.
Under a truce brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Iran-backed Hezbollah since early October.
That deadline was later extended to February 18, but Israel’s military requested that it keep troops in five posts in southern Lebanon, sources told Reuters last week.


Cairo building collapse kills 10: state media

Cairo building collapse kills 10: state media
Updated 17 February 2025
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Cairo building collapse kills 10: state media

Cairo building collapse kills 10: state media
  • Eyewitnesses told the state-owned outlet that “a gas cylinder explosion” caused the collapse

CAIRO: A building collapse in the Egyptian capital killed 10 people and injured eight more on Monday, with several others believed to be missing under the rubble, state media reported.
Ambulances were dispatched to the scene in the working class neighborhood of Kerdasa, where civil defense teams searched for people thought to be missing under the rubble, according to the Al-Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper.
Eyewitnesses told the state-owned outlet that “a gas cylinder explosion” caused the collapse, and a police investigation was under way.
Building regulations are unevenly enforced in the sprawling metropolis of Cairo, home to over 26 million people.
The city has seen a number of deadly building collapses in recent years, both due to the dilapidated state of some and, at times, failure to comply with building regulations.