Palestinian inmates released from Israeli jails claim that guards abused them and subjected them to collective punishment in the weeks following the Hamas strikes on Israel on October 7.
They've told of being struck with sticks, having muzzled dogs set on them, and having their clothes, food, and blankets taken away.
One female detainee claimed she was threatened with rape and that officers tear-gassed her inside the cells twice.
The bustlingnews.com interviewed with six people in all, all of whom claimed to have been beaten before being released from jail.
According to the Palestinian detainees Society, some guards are accused of urinating on restrained detainees. In the last seven weeks, six inmates have perished in Israeli detention.
Israel claims that all of its detainees are held in accordance with the law.
Mohammed Nazzal, eighteen, was among those released by Israel this week in exchange for Israeli women and children held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
He had been incarcerated in Nafha Prison without charge since August and claims he has no idea why he was arrested.
Mohammed invited me to his home in the village of Qabatiya near Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank.
The smoke from a dozen cigarettes filled the family reception room at the top of the ancient house, and a cousin circled the visitors with a flask of coffee and a tall tower of miniature paper cups.
Mohammed sat between rows of male relatives, both his hands thickly wrapped and held stiffly in front of him like a boxer, the tips of his thumbs poking out.
He claims that Israeli prison officers came into his cell ten days ago with a microphone and speaker, attempting to incite the convicts by clapping and chanting their names.
"When they saw we weren't reacting," he goes on to add, "they started to beat us."
"They arranged us so that the elderly were in the back and the young were in front." They kidnapped me and began beating me. They were attempting to break my legs and hands while I was protecting my head."
The family handed us medical records and X-rays from Ramallah-based Palestinian doctors who evaluated Mohammed after his release on Monday.
We showed the X-ray images to two doctors in the UK, who confirmed that both hands had fractures. Mohammed was not surprised.
"In the beginning, I was in a lot of pain," he admits. "After a while, I realized they were broken and stopped using them." I only used them when I had to go to the bathroom."
He claims that other prisoners assisted him in eating, drinking, and using the restroom, and that he did not seek medical attention from the guards out of fear of being beaten again.
The Israel Prison Service has contested Mohammed's statement, claiming that he was evaluated by a doctor before leaving prison and that no medical problems were discovered.
The jail service also published a video of the boy leaving the facility and boarding a Red Cross bus prior to his release, claiming that it demonstrates his claims are untrue.
The teen's hands are unbandaged and appear to be dangling by his sides in the video, including as he climbs into the bus, but are out of view for the majority of the time.
Mohammed told us that he had his first medical treatment on that Red Cross vehicle.
A medical assessment from a hospital in Ramallah on the day he returned home suggested that if his fractures did not heal on their own, a plate could have to be inserted.
We requested that the Red Cross authenticate Mohammed's story. "We speak directly with the detaining authorities if we have any concerns about the medical condition of detainees," they stated in a statement. We do not discuss individual cases publicly because of this dialogue."
According to Mohammed, the behavior of guards inside Israeli jails changed after the Hamas attacks on October 7.
He claims guards kicked them and struck them with sticks, and he recounts one guard stepping on his face.
"They came in with their dogs," he says further. "They let the dogs attack us and then they started beating us."
"They took our mattresses, clothes, pillows, and food and threw it on the floor." "Everyone was terrified."
He shows me the bruises on his back and shoulder that he claims were caused by the beatings.
"The dog attacking me wore a muzzle with very sharp edges - his muzzle and claws left marks all over my body," he says.
Beatings like these occurred twice at Megiddo Prison, he said, and numerous times at Nafha Prison.
Other Palestinian detainees we spoke with described a similar shift inside Israel's jails following the Hamas strikes, interpreting it as "revenge" targeting Palestinian prisoners for Hamas' activities.
Abdullah al-Zaghary, the head of the Palestinian detainees Society, told us that numerous detainees had observed cellmates being viciously assaulted on their faces and bodies, and that he had heard reports of guards peeing on bound prisoners.
We requested a response from the Israel Prison Service to these charges. They said that all detainees were detained in accordance with the law and had all of the basic legal rights.
"We are not aware of the claims you have described," read the statement. "Nonetheless, prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined by official authorities."
Lama Khater, who was released from prison earlier this week, claimed in a social media video that an intelligence officer "explicitly threatened her with rape" shortly after her detention in late October.
"I was handcuffed and blindfolded," she said in the footage to an interviewer. "They threatened me with rape... It was obvious that the purpose was to scare me."
Israel said that her lawyer made these assertions, which the prisoner disputed. According to the jail service, an inciting complaint had been filed.
However, Lama Khater told us over the phone that women detainees, including herself, had been threatened with rape and that tear gas had been used against them in their Damon Prison dormitory.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the number of Palestinians killed in captivity has increased dramatically after the 7 October attacks, with six persons dying in custody since that day.
Israel did not directly respond to our inquiry, but stated that four detainees had died on four different dates in the previous weeks, and that the prison service had no information of the causes of death.
Mohammed Nazzal of Qabatiya village says his hands still hurt, especially at night.
His brother Mutaz informed me that the adolescent he knew had not been released from jail.
"This is not the Mohammed we know," he added. "He was brave, brave. Now his heart is wounded and terrified."
He claimed that the Israeli army had carried out an operation in the nearby city of Jenin the night before: "You could see how scared he was."
