Israel Probes Abuse and Deaths in Gaza War Detention Camps

Israel is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the Gaza war and the conditions of a military-run detention camp following allegations of inmate abuse. The investigations follow claims by a human rights group of severe violence, and the military's chief prosecutor emphasized the seriousness of these accusations.

Israel is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the Gaza war as well as a military-run detention camp where a human rights group has alleged abuses of inmate, the armed forces' chief prosecutor said on Monday. Citing accounts by former inmates and a doctor from the Sde Teiman base, the Physicians for Human Rights group said last month that detainees have suffered severe violence causing fractures, internal bleeding and even death.

Palestinians have also accused Israeli soldiers of illegal killings during the almost eight-month-old Gaza war. "To date, 70 military police investigations have been opened into incidents that have raised suspicion of criminal offences," Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the military advocate-general, told a conference hosted by the Israel Bar Association.

"These investigations also address allegations raised about the incarceration conditions at Sde Teiman detention centre and the deaths of detainees in IDF custody. We are treating these allegations very seriously and are taking action to probe them." (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)