Since October 7th last year more than 9,500 Palestinians including 635 minors from the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem have been held in Israeli jails. More than 3,400 Palestinian detainees, including women and children, have also been placed in administrative detention under the pretext of secret evidence. All prisoners and detainees have been subjected to systematic physical and psychological torture, deprivation of basic needs of human life and minimum levels of treatment.
As reported by numerous human rights organisations, they are being deliberately starved, abused and subjected to severe physical mistreatment including sexual abuse. 18 detainees in the West Bank have died due to torture, medical negligence or deprivation of basic necessities, while 37 prisoners from the Gaza Strip have died been killed through torture in Israeli detention camps. These are all serious war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hamas is holding around 100 hostages in Gaza following its incursion into Israel last October. While they may be subject to limited food, as is much of Gaza due to Israeli blockades of the aid corridors, to our knowledge based on reports from earlier hostage releases they have not been tortured, nor subject to severe physical mistreatment. That is not to underestimate the psychological harm to them and they families that their time as hostages in Gaza would have caused. These abductions and hostage taking are still serious war crimes and three Hamas leaders have been cited by the ICC.
In contrast we know from images widely circulated on social media that the hundreds of abducted Palestinians from Gaza have been forced to strip to underclothing, to kneel for hours, shackled and blindfolded and left in the boiling sun in........