News - Middle East: The Ministry of Detainees and ex-Detainees Affairs in Gaza says Israeli forces conduct investigation sessions using various forms of torture to "extract confessions and information by any means necessary."

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and ex-Detainees Affairs in Gaza warned that the vast majority of Palestinians detained from the Strip during the war by Israeli forces "disappear into the unknown" within the occupation's prisons, camps, and detention centers.

In a press statement, the Ministry confirmed that the detainees are held in secret detention centers, such as the infamous Sde Teman detention center in the occupied Negev, where they are subjected to brutal and severe abuse and systematic torture, especially at the beginning of their detention.

It added that Israeli security agencies conduct investigation sessions using various forms of torture in order to "extract confessions and information by any means necessary."

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation refuses to engage with any institution or entity,  especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, requesting information or visits to any detainee.

The interrogation of a large number of detainees has been concluded, but the occupation still refuses to release them, the statement continued.

The Ministry emphasized that what the detainees endure in the occupation's prisons constitutes "an intended, deliberate crime and a compound crime against our people and prisoners." It highlighted that the occupation practices "killing, execution, and sadism against the prisoners," imposing extremely harsh conditions that violate all international and humanitarian norms and laws.

It condemned "the heinous crimes committed against the prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons since October 7" and held the Israeli occupation and the US administration "responsible for the ongoing crimes against Palestinian detainees."

As the situation of detainees continues to worsen, the Ministry called for a "serious international investigation into the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against defenseless detainees."

The Ministry urged for "international pressure on the occupation to open the prisons and secret detention centers to international organizations, institutions, and lawyers" to conduct visits and assess the conditions of the detainees. It also called on the international community and all international human rights organizations and institutions to "assume their responsibilities towards this serious issue, which the world has never witnessed before."