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Moureen Kaki, a Palestinian American aid worker and head of mission for medical group Glia International in Gaza, says she saw about 35 Palestinian prisoners who were released by Israel as part of the ceasefire deal – and each one reported similar stories of abuse and torture in Israeli jails.
Three people she met had gunshot wounds in the same place on their leg, Kaki said during the IMEU webinar on the Gaza ceasefire deal. “They were being abused and beaten by Israeli soldiers as early as two hours before, while they were on the bus to Gaza,” Kaki said.
“They had all talked about how, since the ceasefire was announced … before their release, that they were given only toilet water to drink and they were not given any food. They had all talked about ‘soft torture’, being made to kneel or sit in very uncomfortable positions for hours at a time, for days on end,” she continued.
“Most of them described a typical meal – when they were allowed food – as being three spoons of something – three spoons of lentils, three spoons of chickpeas, three spoons of beans.”
As well as severe malnutrition, the released Palestinians also suffered from scabies, she said, “and that’s not even getting into the psychological torture that they endured”.