Two human rights organizations: Testimonies of 22 detainees who were injured as a result of the occupation’s shooting at them inside the detention centers.

Jerusalem - Ofoq News - Two Israeli human rights organizations revealed that they had received at least 22 testimonies from detainees, most of them Palestinians, regarding the oppressive forces in Israeli occupation detention centers shooting at them, causing them to be seriously injured.

This was stated in a joint report on Thursday by Physicians for Human Rights and the Public Committee against Torture in Israel.

The two organizations said that they had received at least 22 testimonies, most of them during the last year, in which they spoke about the repressive forces firing in the occupation detention centers "projectiles that they described as rubber, plastic, or sponge bullets. The testimonies included shooting from close distances and inside the cells, where detainees do not have the opportunity to move away from the source of the fire or take shelter from it."

The two organizations documented cases in a number of occupation detention centers, including: Ofer, Ganot, Katziot, Gilboa, Megiddo, Nitzan, and Eshel.

The report revealed the injury of a detainee (45 years old), who was transferred to Soroka Military Hospital last June, after being shot with rubber bullets. Medical documents showed that he was injured in several areas of his body, including the testicles, which required him to undergo surgery to remove the right testicle after it was subjected to a complete laceration.

In another case, a detainee suffered a fracture in his left leg as a result of being shot at from close range. Medical documents confirmed that he was transferred to Soroka Hospital, where he underwent surgery to stabilize the fracture, not to mention other injuries to detainees in the legs, abdomen, pelvis and hands.

Detainees reported being shot during raids carried out by jailers, or inside departments and cells, while some of them spoke of not being subjected to medical examinations after they were injured or being denied appropriate treatment.

The two organizations confirmed that one of the testimonies in which a detainee in Ofer said that he refused to return to his cell in protest against being denied treatment for scabies for months, adding that the jailers responded by shooting him and using an electric shock on his head.

In Nitzan detention center, another detainee reported that he was hit with several rubber bullets in the lower part of his body during a panic attack. Other testimonies also included accounts of detainees being shot inside their cells and from close ranges.

After documenting the cases, the two organizations went to the judicial advisor to the Israeli occupation government and officials in the occupation prison administration, to demand an end to the “uncontrolled use of shooting at detainees.” They also called for the disclosure of the types of weapons and ammunition used and the instructions regulating their use.

The two organizations confirmed that the documented cases contradict the instructions of the occupation prison administration itself, which stipulate proportionality and the use of force as a last resort.

In its response, the occupation prison administration acknowledged the use of what it called “less lethal means” against detainees, but it refused to reveal the nature of these means and the ammunition used, their characteristics, and the rules for their use. It also rejected the demand to stop using them comprehensively.

Director of the Detainees Department at the Physicians for Human Rights organization, Muhannad Abu Ghosh, said that shooting detainees is not a new phenomenon, adding that the recent period has witnessed an unprecedented escalation in its use.

He explained that documented testimonies show that shooting gradually turned into a routine means of practicing violence inside detention centers, noting that the injuries include severe bleeding, fractures, and damage to internal organs, some of which required surgical operations, warning that the increasing use of these methods threatens the lives of detainees and may cause permanent damage.

In turn, the director of the legal department at the Public Committee against Torture, lawyer Merav Ben Zeev, criticized the response of the occupation prison administration, and said that “the response reflects a disregard for the physical and psychological safety of detainees, and perpetuates a blackout on what is happening inside the detention centers,” considering that describing the ammunition used as “less lethal means” raises questions about the occupation prison administration’s treatment of Palestinian detainees.

She added that the committee is considering taking additional steps against this practice, considering that it puts the lives of detainees at risk and constitutes another method of torture.