Since the outbreak of the latest Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have been enduring one of the harshest periods in their modern history.
Thousands of families suffer from loss and devastation, while hundreds of civilians face arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance under inhumane conditions.
Israeli prisons and detention centers have turned into places of silent suffering—beyond the reach of cameras and the voices of human rights organizations.
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“Insan” Shocked by the Horrors of Rakevet Prison
The Insan Organization for Rights and Freedoms was deeply shocked upon reviewing what was revealed by the British newspaper The Guardian in a recent investigative report, exposing Israel’s detention of dozens of Palestinians from Gaza inside a secret underground prison known as “Rakevet.”
What the newspaper uncovered is not ordinary news but a painful investigation into detainees living under severe and inhumane conditions—deprived of natural light and sufficient food, denied communication with their families, and cut off from any information about the outside world. Most of them have not been charged with any crime for months.
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Horrifying Details from Beneath the Ground
According to the investigation, the entire prison is located underground, including the cells, exercise yard, and rooms designated for meetings with lawyers—leaving detainees completely isolated from sunlight and fresh air.
Among those held is a nurse who was arrested while performing his duties at a hospital in Gaza—his only “crime” being that he tended to the wounded and tried to ease their pain. Another detainee, an 18-year-old young man, has disappeared without a trace since his transfer to the prison, and no one knows why he is being held in such darkness.
These practices amount to crimes against humanity and represent a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, which guarantee detainees the right to humane treatment, communication with their families, and knowledge of their place of detention.
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Urgent Call for Investigation and an End to Violations
The Insan Organization calls on the international community and the United Nations to immediately launch an independent investigation into what is happening inside this secret prison and other Israeli detention centers, and to hold fully accountable all those involved in these violations.
The organization also urges the immediate release of all Palestinian detainees and demands that international committees be granted access to all detention facilities.
Remaining silent about these practices is complicity in the crime—justice must find its way to those victims who live in total darkness, overshadowed by the silence of the world.
