The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies has accused Israeli occupation authorities of committing systematic war crimes against Palestinians detained from the Gaza Strip, saying prisoners are being subjected to torture, enforced disappearance, starvation and inhumane treatment amid Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

In a report released on Thursday, the center said the treatment of Gaza detainees amounts to a policy of "slow killing" and warned that hundreds of prisoners also face the threat of execution under recently approved Israeli legislation.

The organization said detainees from Gaza are caught "between the hammer of deadly torture" and "the anvil of the death penalty law," alleging that abuse begins from the moment of arrest and continues throughout detention.

According to the report, 52 Palestinian detainees from Gaza whose identities have been confirmed have died in Israeli custody since the beginning of the war, while hundreds of others remain at risk.

The center's director, Riyad Al-Ashqar, said interrogators from Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, employ various forms of torture prohibited under international law, alongside systematic physical and psychological abuse.

He said that prisoners are subjected to electric shocks to sensitive parts of their bodies, attacks by police dogs, prolonged handcuffing under the scorching sun, severe beatings, deprivation of drinking water, and, in some cases, sexual assault.

According to Al-Ashqar, the abuse does not end after interrogations conclude. Instead, detainees are transferred to prison facilities where they continue to face degrading treatment, starvation and the denial of basic human rights.

He said prisoners are routinely denied access to showers, adequate clothing, prayer, reading the Quran and other basic necessities, while the policy of food deprivation has caused many detainees to lose nearly half of their body weight.

Al-Ashqar also accused Israeli authorities of preventing lawyers and representatives of international humanitarian organizations from visiting detainees from Gaza, particularly those held in the "Rakevet" section of Ramle Prison, which Palestinian prisoners reportedly refer to as "the slaughterhouse."

He described the underground detention facility as resembling graves, where prisoners are held in complete isolation and subjected to ongoing abuse away from independent oversight.

The report further accused Israel of continuing the practice of enforced disappearance, saying authorities refuse to disclose information regarding many detainees from Gaza, including those believed to have died in custody.

According to the Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies, Israeli forces have arrested more than 15,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war in October 2023, including women, children, wounded individuals and people with disabilities.

While thousands have since been released after varying periods of detention, the organization said approximately 1,800 Palestinians from Gaza remain imprisoned under Israel's designation of "unlawful combatants," despite asserting that the overwhelming majority are civilians.

Among those still in custody, the center said, are around 350 prisoners classified by Israel as "elite detainees" and 360 medical workers.

The organization called on the international community, human rights organizations and legal institutions to intervene urgently, investigate the alleged violations, and hold Israel accountable for what it described as systematic crimes against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. (ILKHA)