Israeli Whistleblowers Reveal Disturbing and Inhumane Conditions Palestinians Are Held In

Palestinian prisoners were handcuffed for so long that their limbs died and had to be amputated, three Israeli whistleblowers who spoke to US media revealed, detailing a litany of alleged abuses against prisoners held by Israel in the Sde Teiman military base.

The whistleblowers quoted by CNN said that the base has two parts, one which includes “intense physical restraint” and the other acting as a field hospital where prisoners are strapped to beds, blindfolded, put in diapers and fed through a tube.

“We were told they were not allowed to move,” one whistleblower said. “They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.”

Prisoners were routinely beaten by guards the whistleblowers say, but the torture wasn’t a part of any kind of interrogation program, according to the news agency. “(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge,” the whistleblower claimed. “It was punishment for what they did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”

A prisoner from the camp claimed that even talking to another prisoner was enough to earn a beating by Israeli guards.

Israel purportedly holds thousands of Palestinians in its custody, many of them are held under a recently amended law that allows them to be held indefinitely and without trial.

One released prisoner, Dr. Mohammed Al-Ran, said he was held for weeks after Israel cleared him of any connections with Hamas so that he could serve as a liaison and translator between guards and prisoners. The IDF has denied holding prisoners for longer than necessary.

The Palestinian doctor also described his experience of being brought to the facility, saying he was stripped down to his underwear, handcuffed, blindfolded and thrown on top of other nearly naked prisoners in the back of a truck.

Al-Ran and a whistleblower also claimed the guards unleashed large dogs on sleeping prisoners while performing routine searches and lobbed a sound grenade into the enclosure before entering.

“It was a special unit of the military police that did the so-called search,” the whistleblower said. “But really it was an excuse to hit them. It was a terrifying situation.”

Sde Teiman is one of three military facilities that Israel has admitted to converting into a detention camp for Palestinians. Satellite photos show that Sde Teiman has been significantly expanded since October 7. Civilian hospitals refuse to treat injured Gazans, according to US media.

“The problem is, Gazans who are brought in are labeled as terrorists,” a whistleblower explained “and it is very popular opinion over here that terrorists deserve to die. So, they do not deserve the same medical care as everyone else.”

The field hospital has also gained a reputation as “a paradise for interns” because they are allowed to learn by using Palestinian prisoners as guinea pigs, the article claimed.

“I was asked to learn how to do things on the patients, performing minor medical procedures that are totally outside my expertise,” a whistleblower said, noting that the procedures frequently were performed without anesthesia. He also alleged that he was told not to fill out any medical forms while working there, a practice that helps authority figures at the hospital avoid accountability.

The accusations by the whistleblowers and prisoners match the accusations made in a letter addressed to top Israeli officials by an Israeli doctor who worked at the facility. He described a facility where limb amputations caused by consistent handcuffing were unfortunately “a routine event.”

The IDF said that it handcuffs prisoners until they are determined not to be a security threat.

Al-Ran said that before he left, a fellow prisoner asked him to find his family in Gaza and warn them that it is better to become a martyr than be captured and held at Sde Teiman.