Yusuf Dhia-Allah
The raw racism displayed by zionist Israel and its western backers is appalling, though not surprising. Ever since the so-called ceasefire went into effect in Gaza on October 11, the overall narrative has been the zionist demand that the bodies of Israelis must be returned immediately.
Israel, meanwhile has deliberately placed hurdles for the Islamic resistance in Gaza to retrieve these bodies. The zionists refuse to allow any heavy machinery into Gaza to dig the bodies out from under tons of rubble of bombed out buildings.
The zionists’ demonic rationale is that this would help the Palestinians to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones as well. There are at least 10,000 Palestinians—men, women and children—under the rubble, killed by Israeli bombing strikes, as were the Israeli prisoners.
Despite the so-called ceasefire, Israel continues to bomb Gaza. As the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese aptly described it, “Ceasefire according to Israel: ‘You cease, I fire’, is both an insult and a distraction.”
While the west has been breast-beating for Israeli prisoners, there is not even a hint that thousands of Palestinian hostages (at least 10,000) have faced torture and humiliation in Israeli dungeons. At least 135 bodies of Palestinian prisoners returned to Gaza showed clear signs of torture. Some were shot in the head. Others were strangled to death with their hands and feet tied behind their backs. Hundreds of others had their limbs broken.
Palestinian prisoners have had their fingers cut off, organs removed and hands tied behind their backs. Israel also continues to prohibit the entry of DNA testing kits that might enable families to identify their mutilated kins’ bodies. Hundreds have been buried in mass graves without their relatives knowing who is in that grave.
The Israeli carceral system would make Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib look like picnics. Palestinians are kidnapped from their homes—this makes them hostages—and locked in prison without change. They are held for six months under what is euphemistically referred to as “administrative detention”.
After the six-month period, the hostages are presented before a military court—a mere formality—to extend their detention by another six months. There is no recourse to appeal. This has resulted in some Palestinians being held for decades without charge. Their only crime is that they are Palestinians.
There is routine torture—both physical and psychological—and systematic sexual abuse. Scores of Palestinian girls and women have been raped. Some have become pregnant.
It was widely known that Israeli soldiers sexually abuse Palestinian prisoners to humiliate them. A glimpse into Israel’s sickening depravity came to light in August 2024.
A surveillance video leaked to the media was broadcast by Israeli Channel 12 news on August 6, 2024. It showed soldiers gang raping a Palestinian detainee held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility. Far from showing any remorse or ending such vile practices much less punishing the offenders, there were protests in Israel over the leaked video.
The protesters claimed the leaked video jeoparised the lives of soldiers! There were demands to punish those responsible for leaking the video.
The Israeli military’s top lawyer, Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi announced her resignation on October 31, 2025. She admitted to her involvement in leaking the surveillance video. The Israeli police launched a criminal investigation into the matter.
It must be asked why do Israeli soldiers indulge in the rape of Palestinian girls, boys, women and men? While Israel is a depraved and sick society, they know that Palestinian care for their honour. The zionists indulge in rape, often gang rape, in order to humiliate the Palestinians.
Compare that to the treatment of Israeli prisoners held by the Islamic resistance in Gaza. Not one was harmed much less tortured or raped.
Israel has also been harvesting the organs of Palestinians. This came to light when bodies were returned to Gaza with organs “expertly removed as they are with organ transplants.”
The director of Gaza’s media office, Ismail Thawabta told the Turkish Anadolu news agency that “Parts of many corpses were missing, including eyes, corneas, and other organs.” He said it confirmed that the Israeli army “stole human organs while holding the bodies,” calling the act a “barbaric crime.”
Thawabta also said some of the deceased were returned “blindfolded and bound by hands and feet, while others displayed signs of strangulation and rope marks around their necks, indicating deliberate killing.”
The Palestinian official urged the international community and human rights organizations to “immediately form an international investigation committee to hold Israel accountable for serious violations against the bodies of the martyrs and the theft of their organs.”
The Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies says Israel currently has the bodies of 735 Palestinian prisoners, including 67 children. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that Israel holds nearly 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev Desert, southern Israel.
Had Israeli prisoners—dead or alive—been subjected to such appalling mistreatment, it is not difficult to imagine the uproar it would have created. Palestinians lives are dispensable. In fact, the zionists have virtually normalized the torture of Palestinians. Not only their existence but their dignity and humanity are being erased.
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