Released Gaza detainees allege torture by Israel amid war

Blindfolded, beaten and sometimes bitten by dogs, Gazans released from Israeli prisons allege being tortured amid the Israel-Hamas war, which rights groups say has worsened conditions for detainees.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya, former director of Al-Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, is the latest to report mistreatment by Israel.

Salmiya, one among dozens of detainees freed Monday, said "several inmates died in interrogation centres and were deprived of food and medicine."

Israel's army and Shin Bet intelligence service have not responded to his account, though they have rejected past accusations.

While the United Nations and others have long raised concerns about conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, rights groups say legal changes since the Gaza war erupted have aggravated the situation.

AFP interviewed some of the 50 prisoners taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip after their release by Israel on June 11.

"I was beaten day and night. Our eyes were blindfolded, our hands and feet shackled and they set dogs on us," Mahmud al-Zaanin, 37, recounted from his hospital bed, noting the beatings sometimes targeted his genitals.

  Legs amputated

"They asked me where (Hamas leader) Yahya Sinwar was, where Hamas was, where our prisoners were, and why I participated on Oct. 7," he said.

Zaanin said he did not take part in Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that led to 1,195 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 38,011 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Zaanin said he was deprived of sleep and bathroom access...