Freed Palestinian prisoners in Gaza have told the BBC they have been subjected to mistreatment and torture by Israeli military and prison staff, adding to reports of misconduct inside Israeli barracks and prisons.
According to foreign media, one man said he was attacked with chemicals and burned. "I thrashed around like an animal in an attempt to put out the fire [in my body]," said Mohammad Abu Tawileh, a 36-year-old mechanic.
The BBC has conducted in-depth interviews with five released prisoners, all of whom were arrested in Gaza in the months after Hamas and other groups killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages. The men were held under Israel's Unlawful Combatants Law, a measure that allows people suspected of posing a security risk to be detained indefinitely without charge, as Israel sought to seize the hostages and dismantle the banned terror group.
The men say they were accused of having links to Hamas and questioned about the location of the hostages and tunnels, but were not found to have been involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks - a condition that Israel had imposed on anyone released under the recent ceasefire agreement, writes A2 CNN.
Some of those released under the deal were serving sentences for other serious crimes, including the murder of Israelis, but this was not the case for those interviewed. The BBC also asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) whether there were any convictions or charges against the men, but they did not answer this question.
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