Palestinians Accuse Israel of Abusing, Torturing Prisoners in Gaza and the West Bank
(AWP) - Laila Ghannam, the Governor of Ramallah and al-Bireh in the West Bank, condemned the treatment of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, describing their conditions as inhumane and involving ‘systematic’ unprecedented humiliation.
At a press conference held by rights organisations in Ramallah on Tuesday, marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Ghannam questioned the relevance of commemorating such an event while Palestinian prisoners are suffering and dying in Israeli custody.
Ghannam said, “When we heard about the rape, the abuse, the systematic practice of humiliating our prisoners, the systematic killing… This is not medical negligence; this is systematic killing and assassination within earshot and sight of this unjust world. What ‘Anti-Torture Day’ are we talking about?”
She added, “The pain is great... very great. We’ve heard testimonies, whether on social media or directly from brothers and sisters coming out of prisons. We never expected that one day we would hear such testimonies, and they never expected that one day they would live through them.”
Palestinians accuse Israel of arbitrarily arresting and torturing thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza and the West Bank since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year.