Israel accused of torturing Palestinian workers to death

Middle East Eye

07-02-2025

Palestinian workers detained during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 were abused by Israeli prison guards, with some of them tortured to death or disappeared, according to testimonies collected by a Palestinian trade union.
Wehbe Badarneh, the legal advisor to the Arab Workers Union, told news outlet Arab48 that they had submitted an inquiry to Israeli security and military centres regarding the whereabout of 46 Palestinian workers from Gaza following their disappearance on 8 October 2023.
The Israel Prison Service gave the Palestinian union a vague response confirming the deaths of 34 workers who died inside detention centres under "mysterious circumstances or from heart attacks".
Badarneh explained that until 7 October 2023, 18,000 Palestinians from Gaza were in Israel with work permits.
However, after the attack, the Israeli authorities withdrew work authorisations for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
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Badarneh said that while it was easier for those coming from the West Bank to go back, the situation was much more difficult for workers from the besieged enclave.
"A state of chaos prevailed in the border area between Israel and Gaza, called the 'Gaza Envelope', and there was confusion there and no one knew who the workers were and who the infiltrators were after the walls were breached and collapsed," Badarneh told Arab48.
"Because of this chaos, the Gaza workers were scattered, some of them feared returning to Gaza, some of them found refuge in the West Bank, and some of them were detained, arrested and brutally and horribly abused at the military checkpoints in retaliation for the events that took place in the Gaza Envelope."
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According to Badarneh, hundreds of workers from Gaza were transferred to Israeli-run prisons, including the infamous Sde Teiman and Ofer detention centres, which have been exposed for the conditions and abuses Palestinians abducted from Gaza experienced.
At first, the Arab Workers Union received numerous complaints and requests from Palestinians who had lost contact with their loved ones, Badarneh said.
"When the number of these complaints reached hundreds, we saw that the issue was serious and that it was no longer about some individuals," he added.
The union contacted several Israeli authorities and services, but its requests for information were met with indifference and contempt. However, that did not stop the group from persevering in its efforts.
"We did not leave a single door untouched," Badarneh said. "Yes, we went to the Supreme Court, and as a result, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a report on the subject."
The journalist who worked on the report was later told by a spokesperson for the Israeli military that the bodies of some workers who were killed at the checkpoints were transferred to Gaza for burial via the Erez checkpoint.
'Horrific forms of torture'
Some of the Gaza workers who took refuge in the West Bank and were hosted in a Palestinian military college in Jericho gave some information about those who had been abducted.
According to their testimonies as well as videotapes that were circulating at the time, detained Palestinian workers were subjet to brutal beatings, stripping and various methods of torture.
As a result, the union came to the conclusion that the Palestinian workers had been tortured to death in Israeli detention.
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Subsequently, it submitted a report to trade unions in Europe, where members suggested joining complaints filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
"Workers from Gaza were also summoned to Geneva to testify before the International Labour Organisation, despite all the difficulties and restrictions," Badarneh added, in reference to the obstacles to free movement imposed by Israel.
A number of previous investigations and reports, including testimonies gathered by Middle East Eye, appear to corroborate Badarneh's statement.
'We were tortured, no one had mercy on us. They took our money and clothes, they left us naked for three days while they tortured us. We were hungry, they kicked and punched us, stepped on our heads, until now I am in pain,' one worker told MEE in November 2023.
That same month, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed that thousands of labourers from Gaza were subject to "horrific forms of torture" by Israeli forces during their four-week captivity.
"The testimonies state that the workers suffered from unprecedented levels of abuse, including being left without food and water for several days, being tortured, electrocuted and burned, as well as being sexually harassed and purposefully humiliated by urinating on their bodies," Euro-Med reported.
The organisation added that many Palestinian workers were also abused by their employers, who refused to pay salaries, spit on them and subjected them to humiliation and insults.