Five Palestinian detainees released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire before it collapsed have described the inhumane treatment meted out to them. Arrested from Gaza in the months following the Hamas attack that killed roughly 1200 Israelis, these men were held under Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows Israel to arrest people for an indefinite period without any charge.
Speaking with the BBC, they said they were stripped, blindfolded, cuffed and beaten. The torture also included electric shocks and being menaced by dogs, they said.
Mohammad Abu Tawileh, 36, said he was covered with chemicals and set on fire. "I thrashed around like an animal in an attempt to put the fire out [on my body]," he told BBC.
Mr Tawileh, a mechanic, said the Israeli prison staff poured acid on him, and that he spent around a day and a half washed with it.
Pictures posted by the BBC show Mr Tawilah's back covered in red welts.
Abdul Karim Mushtaha, 33, another detainee now out, said the Israeli prison authorities cuffed the Palestinians and hit them. The poultry slaughterhouse worker said nobody gave them even a drop of water.
A third Palestinian detainee said the Israeli soldiers stood and spat on him, calling them "sons of pigs" and "sons of Sinwar".
The 33-year-old, referred to as Omar (not his original name), said they were forced to listen to a voice recording that said: "What you did to our children, we will do to your children".
The detainees also alleged they were denied medical care and they witnessed the deaths of fellow Palestinians. At least one, Omar, claimed to have witnessed sexual abuse, according to the BBC report.
They took the clothes off some of the guys and "would do shameful acts," Omar said. The Israeli authorities forced them to "perform sex acts on each other".
"He would tell one guy to suck another guy. It was obligatory."
The Israeli soldiers targeted heads and sensitive areas like eyes and ears, said Hamad al-Dahdouh, another detainee, now out as part of the ceasefire deal.
According to Ahmed Abu Seif, who was 17 at the time of his detention, the Israeli prison staff stormed their cells regularly and sprayed inmates with tear gas. They felt suffocated and struggled to breathe after each tear gas attack, he said.
"There was no consideration of us being children, they treated us like the militants of 7 October."
When the BBC reached out to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the allegations went unaddressed but they rejected accusations of "systematic abuse of detainees".
The IDF added that specific complaints about "inappropriate behaviour by detention facility staff or insufficient conditions" were to the concerned authorities and dealt with.
The disciplinary actions follow against the staff members and criminal investigations are opened, should charges merit it, they said.
