Report: Israel relocated Palestinian prisoners to defy top court order to improve conditions

Under pressure from Israel’s top court to improve conditions at Sde Teiman, a prison in the occupied West Bank notorious for abuse of Palestinian detainees, the military transferred hundreds of detainees to newly opened prisons, the Associated Press reported.

HaMoked and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel say that instead of correcting the abuses against Palestinians held without charge or trial - including beatings, excessive handcuffing and poor diet and healthcare - Israel’s military just moved them to Ofer and Anatot prisons where the conditions are as bad.

“What we’ve seen is the erosion of the basic standards for humane detention,” said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked, one of the rights groups petitioning the Israeli government.

Several investigations by Middle East Eye, CNN and The New York Times, as well as testimonies by former Palestinian detainees and eyewitnesses, have repeatedly described incidents of torture and sexual abuse at Sde Teiman since the establishment of the facility after 7 October when the war on Gaza broke out after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.