The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has called for prosecuting the Israeli leaders for crimes of torture and systematic violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, demanding intensified international pressure to protect the prisoners and work towards their release.
The Movement said, in a press statement on Friday on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is commemorated by the United Nations on 26 June of each year, that the occasion comes in light of the continuation of systematic violations to which Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to inside Israeli prisons.
It added that these violations include psychological and physical torture, deprivation of treatment, visitation, and food, in addition to solitary confinement and the imposition of detention conditions it described as “inhumane” against thousands of prisoners.
The Movement considered that the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture represents an opportunity to shed light on the policy of torture pursued by the Israeli government against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, stressing that this constitutes a violation of international laws and conventions.
Hamas called on the United Nations, the international community, and human rights and humanitarian institutions to take serious steps to stop these violations, and to pressure Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
It also called for revealing the fate of thousands of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons, to allow their families to visit them, and to enable human rights and humanitarian organizations to view their conditions.
At the conclusion of its statement, the Movement called on human rights and humanitarian institutions to file lawsuits before international courts against Israeli officials, against the backdrop of crimes of torture and violations committed against Palestinian prisoners, and to work to hold them accountable.
