The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor expressed shock on Thursday over the physical and psychological conditions of recently freed Palestinian prisoners from the seventh batch of a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
“Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, who arrived in Gaza recently in exceptionally poor health, illustrates its ongoing use of torture to terrorize and persecute prisoners and detainees and break their will until the very end of their detention,” the Geneva-based non-profit organisation said in a statement.
“The repeated release of such visibly unhealthy individuals from Israeli prisons reveals that the heinous torture and willful medical neglect they endure have escalated to appalling levels,” it added.
Euro-Med Monitor said that “even though the majority of detainees were not charged with any specific crimes, many of them claimed that they were beaten, mistreated, and threatened right up until the very last minute before their release.”
It stressed that Israel “must immediately cease its crime of enforced disappearance against Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip; reveal all secret detention camps; (and) reveal the names, whereabouts and fates of all Palestinians it is holding from the Strip.”
Israel released 642 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday after Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives under the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.
More releases in 2nd phase of ceasefire
The agreement has been in place since last month, pausing Israel’s destructive war on Gaza, which has killed more than 48,360 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
So far, 25 Israeli captives and eight bodies have been returned from Gaza in exchange for over 1,100 Palestinian prisoners under the first phase of the Gaza deal.
Israel estimates that 59 hostages are still being held in Gaza, with at least 20 of them alive, and they are expected to be set free in the second phase of the ceasefire, which would require Israel to fully withdraw its forces from Gaza and end the war permanently.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
