LONDON: A BBC investigation has revealed that Palestinian detainees from Gaza are “routinely tortured” in Israeli hospitals.
According to medical workers and whistleblowers interviewed by the broadcaster, detainees are kept shackled to hospital beds, blindfolded, sometimes naked, and forced to wear diapers.
Some in need of surgery and other medical procedures are denied painkillers, causing “an unacceptable amount of pain.”
Testimonies indicated that critically-ill patients held in makeshift military facilities are denied proper treatment due to public hospitals’ reluctance to transfer and treat them.
The Israeli army has denied the allegations, asserting that detainees at the facility in question were treated “appropriately and carefully.”
Yossi Walfisch, the head of the country’s Medical Ethics Board, said in a letter: “Terrorists are given proper medical treatment with the aim of keeping restraints to a minimum, and while maintaining the safety of the treating staff.”
The investigation detailed various episodes of mistreatment, which were described in some testimonies as “a deliberate act of revenge.”
In one instance, a detainee had his leg amputated after being denied treatment for an infected wound.
In another, a doctor refused to administer painkillers to an elderly patient while treating an infected amputation wound.
Senior anesthesiologist Yoel Donchin confirmed that patients at Sde Teiman hospital were kept blindfolded and permanently shackled to their beds, while forced to wear diapers instead of being allowed to use toilets.
Donchin argued that the practice could cause long-term nerve damage and admitted to performing surgical procedures on handcuffed patients due to a lack of alternatives.
Despite complaints from medical staff, only minor changes have been implemented.
An army spokesperson said that violence against detainees was “absolutely prohibited” and promised to investigate the allegations.
The revelations recall a report in February by Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which described Israel’s civilian and military prisons as “an apparatus of retribution and revenge,” violating detainees’ human rights, particularly their right to health.
In March, following a similar BBC investigation into alleged abuse and torture by the Israeli army at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the UK government called for an “investigation and explanation” into the allegations.
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