What of Gaza’s ‘other hostages’ — the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel without charge?

Badr Dahlan, who was released on June 20 by the Israeli army, appeared to be in a state of shock as he answered questions at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. (Getty Images)
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Updated 26 June 2024
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What of Gaza’s ‘other hostages’ — the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel without charge?

  • Survivors of Israeli detention describe a pattern of beatings, torture and abuse without access to family or lawyers
  • NGOs have reported a dramatic rise in the number of Palestinians incarcerated without charge or trial since Oct. 7

LONDON: A disturbing video emerged on social media last week of a Palestinian man identified as 29-year-old Badr Dahlan.

Wide-eyed and rocking back and forth as he spoke, Dahlan appeared to be in a state of shock as he answered questions at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, shortly after his release from Israeli custody.

Dahlan, described by those who knew him as “a socially active and beloved young man,” appeared utterly transformed by the month he had spent in Israeli custody since he was seized in Khan Younis.

He described a pattern of beatings, torture and abuse that has become familiar to NGOs monitoring the dramatic increase in the number of Palestinians being incarcerated without charge or trial since the Gaza conflict began last October.




Badr Dahlan (L) and other detainees were seen to be weakened and had scars on their bodies following their release on June 20. (Getty Images)

As the world’s attention continues to be focused on the remaining hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, the plight of “the other hostages” — thousands of innocent Palestinian adults and children seized and held by Israel without charge — is largely ignored.

“There are currently about 9,200 prisoners in total from the West Bank and the Occupied Territories,” said Jenna Abu Hsana, international advocacy officer at Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO Addameer — the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

“Of those, we believe about 3,200 are administrative detainees.”

Administrative detention “is basically a tool that is used by the occupation to indefinitely detain Palestinians for a prolonged period of time,” in prisons run by the Israel Prisons Service,” she said.

Detainees are charged and “tried” by military courts, but the process bypasses all norms of internationally accepted judicial procedure.

“There isn’t really a ‘charge’ because no evidence is presented against the detainee,” said Abu Hsana. “Any so-called evidence is kept in a secret file to which the detainee and their lawyer do not have access.”




Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees, in Gaza, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. (AP)

Incarceration can last up to six months at a time and can then be extended for another six months at the discretion of the military.

Originally, the case against people held under this law had to be judicially reviewed within 14 days, but in December this was extended to 75 days. Simultaneously, the amount of time for which a prisoner could be denied a meeting with an attorney was raised from 10 days to 75 or, with the court’s approval, up to 180 days.

This is an invidious situation, says B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, which “leaves the detainees helpless — facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted.”

Israel “routinely uses administrative detention and has, over the years, placed thousands of Palestinians behind bars for periods ranging from several months to several years, without charging them, without telling them what they are accused of, and without disclosing the alleged evidence to them or to their lawyers.”

The situation in Gaza is slightly different, in that detainees held there since October have been arrested and held incommunicado in military camps under Israel’s Law on Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants, which was introduced in 2002.

But the effect is the same as for those being held under administrative detention. “Detainees can be held in these military camps for prolonged periods of time, with no charge and no evidence,” said Abu Hsana.

Before Oct. 7, Israel was holding about 5,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Occupied Territories in its prisons, of whom roughly 1,000 were being held under administrative detention.

Since Oct. 7, however, “the numbers have escalated,” said Abu Hsana. “There are currently over 9,200 detainees in the prisons, and of these 3,200 are being held under administrative detention.”

However, NGOs are struggling to determine exactly how many people have been taken in Gaza.

“We don’t have any accurate numbers because the occupation refuses to release any information, but we are told that it’s currently around 3,000 to 5,000 detainees.”

Most are held at one of two military sites — Camp Anatot, near Jerusalem, and Sde Teman, near Beersheba in the northern Negev.




Prisoners at Sde Teiman detention facility. NGOs are struggling to determine exactly how many people have been taken in Gaza since Oct. 7. (X)

Access to families and even lawyers is denied throughout a prisoner’s detention in these camps. But as some have been released over the past few months, shocking details have begun to emerge.

“For the detainees from Gaza, it’s especially difficult because they are handcuffed and blindfolded throughout their entire detention, from the moment of their arrest until they’re released, and the plastic zip ties being used are very tight and have caused many serious injuries,” said Abu Hsana.

In April, Israeli newspaper Haaretz obtained a copy of a letter sent to Israel’s attorney general and the ministers of defense and health by a distressed Israeli doctor at Sde Teman.

“Just this week,” the doctor wrote, “two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event.”

He added: “I have faced serious ethical dilemmas. More than that, I am writing to warn you that the facilities’ operations do not comply with a single section among those dealing with health in the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law.”

None of the detainees, he added, were receiving appropriate medical care.

All this, he concluded, “makes all of us — the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defense ministries — complicit in the violation of Israeli law, and perhaps worse for me as a doctor, in the violation of my basic commitment to patients, wherever they are, as I swore when I graduated 20 years ago.”




A member of the Israeli security forces stands next to a blind-folded Palestinian prisoner on the border with Gaza near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on October 8, 2023. (AFP)

UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, recently published a scathing report condemning the treatment of Palestinians who had been held, without charge or trial, and later released.

The report was based on information obtained through UNRWA’s role in coordinating humanitarian aid at the Karem Abu Salem crossing point between Gaza and Israel, where Israeli security forces have been regularly releasing detainees since early November 2023.

By April 4, UNRWA had documented the release of 1,506 detainees, including 43 children and 84 women. Detainees reported having been sent multiple times for interrogations and enduring extensive ill-treatment.

This included “being subjected to beatings while made to lie on a thin mattress on top of rubble for hours without food, water or access to a toilet, with their legs and hands bound with plastic ties.”

Several detainees, said UNRWA, “reported being forced into cages and attacked by dogs. Some released detainees, including a child, had dog bite wounds on their body.”




Israeli soldiers detain blindfolded Palestinian men in a military truck on November 19, 2023. (AFP)

Other methods of ill-treatment reported included “physical beatings, threats of physical harm, insults and humiliation such as being made to act like animals or getting urinated on, use of loud music and noise, deprivation of water, food, sleep and toilets, denial of the right to pray and prolonged use of tightly locked handcuffs causing open wounds and friction injuries.”

In a statement provided to the BBC in response to UNRWA’s findings, the Israel Defense Forces said: “The mistreatment of detainees during their time in detention or whilst under interrogation violates IDF values and contravenes IDF and is therefore absolutely prohibited.”

It rejected specific allegations including the denial of access to water, medical care and bedding. The IDF also said that claims regarding sexual abuse were “another cynical attempt to create false equivalency with the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas.”

Israeli peace activists have protested outside the camp, holding banners reading “Sde Teman torture camp” and “Israel makes people disappear.” In an apparent attempt to dampen growing unease about its treatment of detainees, earlier this month (June) Israel invited The New York Times “to briefly see part of” the facility.

If the authorities were hoping for a stamp of approval, they were to be disappointed.




Israelis protest at Sde Teman “Torture camp” where Palestinians are held. (X)

On June 6, the paper described “the scene one afternoon in late May at a military hangar inside Sde Teman.” In barbed-wire cages, the paper reported, “men sat in rows, handcuffed and blindfolded … barred from talking more loudly than a murmur, and forbidden to stand or sleep except when authorized.”

All were “cut off from the outside world, prevented for weeks from contacting lawyers or relatives.”

By late May, the NYT was told, about 4,000 Gazan detainees had spent up to three months in limbo at Sde Teman, including “several dozen” people captured during the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7.

After interrogation, “around 70 percent of detainees had been sent to purpose-built prisons for further investigation and prosecution.

“The rest, at least 1,200 people, had been found to be civilians and returned to Gaza, without charge, apology or compensation.”

On May 23, a group of Israeli human rights organizations petitioned the Supreme Court calling for the camp’s closure. The government has agreed to scale back activities there and the court has ordered the state to report back on conditions at the facility by June 30.

But protesters and NGOs say the scandal of Sde Teman is just the tip of the iceberg.




Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian man as he attempts to attend the first Friday noon prayer of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on March 15, 2024. (AFP)

“Scores of testimonies reveal pervasive torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees, with numerous reports of deaths in Israeli prisons and military camps, blatantly violating the absolute prohibition of torture under international law,” said Miriam Azem, international advocacy and communications associate with Adalah — the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

“Thousands of Palestinians are held under administrative detention without charge or trial, based on secret evidence, in deplorable and life-threatening conditions.

“Hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza remain held incommunicado, without access to lawyers or family, their whereabouts unknown, under a legal framework that permits enforced disappearances, constituting a grave violation of international law.

“The urgency of the current moment demands immediate and resolute intervention from the international community. Failure to act poses a threat to Palestinian lives.”

The children in Israel’s prisons
Ongoing hostage-for-prisoners exchange opens the world’s eyes to arrests, interrogations, and even abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities

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Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, a human rights group says

An injured man is treated in a hospital, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Tehran, Iran, June 21, 2025. (REUTERS)
Updated 23 June 2025
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Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, a human rights group says

  • US to strike Iran ”will be a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, a human rights group said Monday.
The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists offered the figures, which covers the entirety of Iran. It said of those dead, it identified 380 civilians and 253 security force personnel being killed.
Human Rights Activists, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.
Iran has not been offering regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. On Saturday, Iran’s Health Ministry said some 400 Iranians had been killed and another 3,056 wounded in the Israeli strikes.

 

 

 


What do we know about US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities?

Updated 23 June 2025
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What do we know about US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities?

  • Tehran says damage limited, no radiation leaks after Trump declares Iran’s uranium-enrichment capabilities destroyed
  • Assault involved 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft

DUBAI: Amid mounting speculation, the US launched air strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities on Saturday.

The operation aimed to support Israel in its war against Iran — ongoing since June 13 — by crippling Tehran’s uranium enrichment capacity, according to Asharq News.

US President Donald Trump later announced that Iran’s uranium-enrichment abilities had been eliminated, warning Tehran against any “retaliatory response.” Tehran, however, described the damage as “limited” and dismissed any indications of radiation leaks.

US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House in Washington on June 21, 2025, following the announcement that the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran. (POOL / AFP)

The US strikes included 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft, in an operation the top US general, General Dan Caine, said was named “Operation Midnight.”

Asharq News reported that the strikes targeted three critical nuclear facilities instrumental in Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear complex.

These sites span the entire fuel-enrichment chain — from raw uranium conversion, through enrichment, to the production of fuel and technical components for research reactors.

FASTFACTS:

• The first B-2 bomber was publicly displayed on Nov. 22, 1988, but its first flight was on July 17, 1989.

• The combat effectiveness of the B-2 was proved in the Balkans, where it was responsible for destroying 33 percent of all Serbian targets in the first eight weeks.

• In support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the B-2 flew one of its longest missions to date from Whiteman to Afghanistan and back.

• The B-2 completed its first-ever combat deployment in Iraq, flying 22 sorties and releasing more than 1.5 million pounds of munitions.

This handout satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on December 11, 2020 shows an overview of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), northeast of the Iranian city of Qom. (AFP)

Fordo facility

Location and structure: Fordo is 30 kilometers northeast of Qom, embedded within a mountain at an altitude of approximately 1,750 m, with over 80 meters of rock and volcanic shielding — making it one of Iran’s most fortified sites.

Technical role: It houses two underground halls that can hold about 3,000 IR-1 centrifuges, enriching uranium up to 60 percent — a level nearing weapons -grade.

Strategic importance: It is a primary target in any military effort to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear military capability, due to its high capacity and protection.

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows Iran's shows Natanz nuclear research center in the central Iranian province of Isfahan. (AFP) 

Natanz reactor

Location and structure: Situated near Kashan in central Iran, partially buried under about 8 meters of earth with a 220meter-thick concrete roof, naturally shielded by surrounding mountainous terrain.

Technical role: Contains primary and experimental plants with over 14,000 centrifuges (IR-1, IR-2m, IR-4, IR-6), making it Iran’s main industrial enrichment hub.

Strategic importance: Responsible for producing most of Iran’s low-enriched uranium and plays a key role in centrifuge development.

This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows damage after US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. (AFP)

Isfahan nuclear complex

Location and structure: Located south of Isfahan on an arid plateau away from populated areas, it is neither buried nor heavily fortified.

Technical role: Includes a Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF); a research reactor fuel production plant; and a metallic fuel pelletizing plant, and three research reactors.

Strategic importance: Serves as the backbone of Iran’s nuclear research and production infrastructure, supplying both Natanz and Fordo.

The Pentagon used some of the world’s most advanced aircraft for Saturday’s strikes. The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.

The bomber represents a major milestone in the US bomber modernization program. The B-2 brings massive firepower to bear anywhere on the globe through seemingly impenetrable defenses.

A B-2 bomber has a range over 11,000 km without refueling, capable of global reach from distant American bases. (Getty Images via AFP)

According to US officials, the bombers that carried out the Iran strikes flew for nearly 37 hours non-stop from its Missouri base, refueling in mid-air multiple times before striking in the early hours of Sunday.

A B-2 bomber offers several key advantages, primarily due to its stealth capabilities and global reach.

• A range over 11,000 km without refueling, capable of global reach from distant American bases.

• Stealth abilities such as flying-wing design and radar-absorbing materials that allow it to evade air defenses.

• It can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons, including the GBU‑57 bunker-buster bomb.

Initial reports quoted by Asharq News indicated that Fordo was hit with the GBU‑57, the most powerful US conventional bunker buster, designed for deeply buried targets like Fordo, which lies 90 meters underground. Fox News reported six bunker-busting bombs were dropped on Fordo, alongside approximately 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired at Natanz and Isfahan.

The GBU‑57 ‘Massive Ordnance Penetrator’ was designed by American military engineers to devastate deeply buried bunkers without radioactive fallout. It was the only nonnuclear weapon that could reach Iran’s hardest target.

• Weight: ~13,600 kg

• Length: 6.2 meters.

• Diameter: 0.8 meters.

• Explosive payload: 2,400 kg of high explosives.

• Guidance: GPS + inertial navigation.

* Penetration: Up to 60 meters of reinforced concrete or dense rock.

A Tomahawk cruise missile is a precision weapon that launches from ships, submarines and ground launchers and can strike targets precisely from a great distance, even in heavily defended airspace.

• Range: 1,250–2,500 km depending on variant.

• Speed: Subsonic (~880 km/h).

• Guidance: Inertial navigation, GPS, with some variants using terminal guidance (TERCOM, DSMAC).

• Warhead: ~450 kg conventional explosives.

• Launch platforms: Ships and submarines.

There has been a torrent of responses to the US move against Iran, Asharq News reported. President Trump declared the mission’s success, stating that the Fordo facility was “gone,” and Iran’s primary nuclear enrichment sites “completely and utterly destroyed.” Later on Sunday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes were an incredible and overwhelming success that have “obliterated Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.”

For its part, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted an official saying the nuclear sites had been evacuated in advance, and the damage was “not irreparable.” The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran stated there was “no risk of any radiation leak.” Iran emphasized its nuclear industry would not be halted.
 

 


Israel rejects critical EU report ahead of ministers’ meeting

Updated 22 June 2025
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Israel rejects critical EU report ahead of ministers’ meeting

  • European nations have been increasingly critical of the massive civilian toll of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli communities

BRUSSELS: Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document ... and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
European nations have been increasingly critical of the massive civilian toll of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli communities.

 

 


Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid killed in airstrike

Updated 22 June 2025
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Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid killed in airstrike

  • The airstrike targeted the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought
  • It said another 22 people were wounded while waiting for aid trucks

TEL AVIV: At least four Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike and 22 were wounded while waiting for humanitarian aid, according to a local hospital.

The airstrike targeted the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. 

It said another 22 people were wounded while waiting for aid trucks.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds seeking desperately needed food, killing hundreds of people in recent weeks. 

The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said suspiciously approached its forces.

Separately, World Central Kitchen, the charity run by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said it had resumed the distribution of hot meals in Gaza for the first time in six weeks after shutting down because of Israel’s blockade, which was loosened last month amid fears of famine.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said that it had recovered the remains of three hostages held in the Gaza Strip. 

The military identified the remains as those of Yonatan Samerano, 21; Ofra Keidar, 70; and Shay Levinson, 19. 

All three were killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel that ignited the ongoing war. 

Hamas is still holding 50 hostages, fewer than half of them believed to be alive.

The military did not provide any details about the recovery operation, and it was unclear if the airstrike was related to it.

“The campaign to return the hostages continues consistently and is happening alongside the campaign against Iran,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Kobi Samerano said in a Facebook post that his son’s remains were returned on what would have been Yonatan’s 23rd birthday.

Militants killed some 1,200 people, and abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack. 

More than half the hostages have been returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals, eight have been rescued alive, and Israeli forces have recovered dozens of bodies.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which has said that women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Hostages Families Forum, the main organization representing families of the hostages, has repeatedly called for a deal to release the remaining captives.

“Particularly against the backdrop of current military developments, we want to emphasize that bringing back the remaining 50 hostages is the key to achieving any sort of victory,” it said in a statement on Sunday.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Israel will continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. 

Even then, he has said Israel will maintain lasting control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population, plans the Palestinians and others view as forcible expulsion.

The US, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release after Israel ended a truce in March with a surprise wave of airstrikes. 

Those talks appear to have made little progress as Israel has expanded its air and ground offensive.


Twenty killed in suicide bombing at Damascus church

Updated 22 June 2025
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Twenty killed in suicide bombing at Damascus church

  • It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar Assad was toppled
  • Syria’s interior ministry said the suicide bomber was a member of Daesh group

At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria’s capital Damascus on Sunday, health authorities and security sources said.

It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar Assad was toppled in December. Syria’s interior ministry said the suicide bomber was a member of Daesh (Islamic State). He entered the church, opened fire and then detonated his explosive vest, a ministry statement added.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two men were involved in the attack, including the one who blew himself up.

Daesh has been behind several attempted attacks on churches in Syria since Assad’s fall, but this was the first to succeed, another security source told Reuters.

Syria’s state news agency cited the health ministry as saying that 52 people were also injured in the blast.

A livestream from the site by Syria’s civil defense, the White Helmets, showed scenes of destruction from inside the church, including a bloodied floor and shattered pews and masonry.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who led the offensive against Assad before taking over in January for a transitional phase, has repeatedly said he will protect minorities.

“We unequivocally condemn the abhorrent terrorist suicide bombing at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus, Syria,” the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We demand that the Syrian transitional authorities take immediate action to hold those involved accountable and implement measures to guarantee the safety of Christian communities and all religious groups, allowing them to live without fear.”

Daesh had previously targeted religious minorities, including a major attack on Shiite pilgrims in Sayeda Zainab in 2016 — one of the most notorious bombings during Assad’s rule.

The latest assault underscores the group’s continued ability to exploit security gaps despite the collapse of its territorial control and years of counterterrorism efforts.