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[Global Times reporter Li Ziyu] According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on the 5th, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem released a report entitled "Welcome to Hell", which contains testimonies from 55 recently released Palestinian detainees, telling about their experiences of being abused in Israeli prisons.

It is the latest in a series of reports, including one released by the United Nations last week, containing shocking allegations of abuse of Palestinian detainees.

B'Tselem said the testimonies collected by its researchers were very consistent. "They told us the same thing over and over again," said Novak, executive director of the human rights organization. "Continuous abuse, daily violence, physical and mental violence, humiliation, sleep deprivation, people are starving." Novak said, "For Palestinians, the entire Israeli prison system has become a torture network."

The BBC mentioned that since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7 last year, the number of Palestinian prisoners has doubled to about 10,000. The report said that Israeli prisons are overwhelmed and overcrowded, and sometimes more than a dozen prisoners are crowded together to share a cell that can only accommodate 6 people. B'Tselem's report described overcrowded and dirty cells in Israeli prisons, where some prisoners are forced to sleep on the floor, sometimes without even mattresses or blankets.

According to the report, Firas Hassan is a Palestinian prisoner who was detained in an Israeli prison in October last year and was sentenced to "administrative detention". The report said that the vast majority of "administrative detention" is used on Palestinians. Israel claims that its adoption of this measure is necessary and in accordance with international law.

Firas Hassan profile picture from British media

Hassan recounted his experience in an Israeli prison, saying, "We were beaten severely by 20 police officers, masked men, using sticks, dogs and guns." "We were tied up from behind, blindfolded and beaten severely. Blood was flowing from my face. They beat us for 50 minutes. I saw them from under the blindfolds, and they were filming us while beating us."

The BBC said that it is not just Palestinians who have told of the abuse of prisoners in Israeli prisons. Israeli citizens such as Israeli lawyer Kuriyah said that they have also encountered such things. According to reports, Kuriyah was detained in Megiddo Prison in northern Israel for 10 days last November. He was accused by police of posting on social media to glorify the actions of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). But Kuriyah's short prison experience almost broke him down. When talking about the scenes he witnessed in prison, Kuriyah said, "There is no law and order there," and "They have completely lost their minds."

Kuriya data picture from British media

The BBC added that the Israeli military "completely denies" allegations of widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees. The Israeli military told the media that "specific complaints of misconduct or unsatisfactory detention conditions will be forwarded to the relevant IDF agencies and dealt with accordingly." In addition, the Israeli prison administration said it was "not aware of the allegations you describe and, to our knowledge, no such incidents have occurred."

According to media reports on August 1, Israel arrested 35 Palestinians, including children, in the West Bank over the past day. The arrests were concentrated in Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah. According to statistics from the Palestinian Prisoners Association, more than 9,890 people have been arrested in the West Bank since the current round of conflict. Previously, several media reported that the detained Palestinians were tortured and abused, which Israel denied.