Israeli doctor reveals shocking prison conditions in Sde Teiman prison

An Israeli military doctor has presented a shocking report on the horrific and almost inhumane conditions under which sick Palestinian prisoners are held in an Israeli detention camp.

The unnamed doctor revealed in his statement published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that when he entered the notorious Sde Teiman prison in the Negev desert last winter, he found nearly 20 patients in a tent, permanently shackled to old steel beds and blindfolded.

He said many of the detainees had already undergone major surgery or suffered gunshot wounds, some just hours before arriving at the detention center, which he described as a stockade.

The doctor reported on the suffering of an injured man who had been admitted to prison shortly after a delicate operation and another man who suffered from sepsis without receiving any medical follow-up.

He said torture at Sde Teiman included prisoners being held naked and blindfolded and being denied the right to speak or move their limbs for long periods of time, which could be up to a month.

Several reports have already revealed details of killings, torture, sexual assault and other abuses against prisoners in Sde Teiman.

Israel's so-called Supreme Court is examining a petition from five Israeli human rights organizations calling for the immediate closure of the prison.

Earlier this month, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers have been subjected to systematic abuse and torture since the Tel Aviv regime began its brutal assault on Gaza in early October last year.

In an August 6 report, B'Tselem said that testimonies from 55 former Palestinian prisoners revealed “inhumane conditions” and that more than a dozen prisons were being used “as de facto torture camps.”

“The testimonies clearly indicated a systematic, institutional policy aimed at the continued ill-treatment and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,” the report said.

Former detainees described “frequent acts of severe, indiscriminate violence, sexual assault, humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation, enforced unsanitary conditions and sleep deprivation,” it said.

The Israeli military is said to have held thousands of Palestinians, including women, children and medical personnel, captive since the start of its devastating ground and air offensives against Gaza. Those released showed signs of torture.