Palestinians say bodies and detainees returned by Israel show signs of torture and abuse

Amna Nawaz:

As part of the latest cease-fire deal, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees and the bodies of nearly 200. Many of the dead show what Palestinian officials and family members say are signs of torture and abuse.

Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen and our "News Hour" teams in Gaza and the West Bank spoke with relatives of the deceased and of those still held.

And a warning:

Viewers may find some of these images disturbing.

Leila Molana-Allen:

The cruelest of reunions. These families are searching for signs of their loved ones in the decaying remains returned to Gaza by Israel, desperate for news of family members they haven't heard from since they were detained during the war. So many are missing that few even know how or why they disappeared.

They hope against hope that they won't find their answers here.

Maram Qudeih, Sister of Missing Person (through interpreter): I have been coming for four days since the first group of corpses arrived. I came to look for my missing brother. His wife was killed, as well as his four children. His whole family has been wiped off the civil registry. So I can't even ask them what clothes he was wearing to identify him.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Israel has now returned 195 bodies as part of the cease-fire deal. They are so badly decomposed that just a quarter have been identified, a grisly and heart-rending job for the local forensics team. With all Gaza's specialist labs destroyed by war, they must do the job by hand.

Doctors say many of the bodies bear signs of torture, abuse and execution. This man died blindfolded, another with his hands bound behind his back.

Dr. Ahmed Dhahir, Palestinian Ministry of Health (through interpreter): There was decomposition in the bodies. There were also gunshots on the chest and head, in addition to fractures in the skull and legs.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Nidaa has found her father's body. She can't believe what she's seeing.

Nidaa Mohammed Zaghra, Daughter of Deceased Detainee (through interpreter): The bodies were mutilated and showed clear signs of torture, including my father, whose arms were amputated, with torture marks on his legs. He was in terrible condition. So I had to identify him from his clothes, his teeth and an old scar on his forehead.

Leila Molana-Allen:

While Israel has long faced accusations of mistreatment inside its jails, recently released prisoners report an unprecedented surge in widespread abuse since October 7, including starvation, beatings, withholding of medical treatment and physical and psychological torture.

Human rights advocates say the attacks have been used as an opportunity to exert collective punishment against Palestinians, which is illegal under international law. Jihad Al Roum was convicted of killing in Israeli during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s and sentenced to life plus 20 years. As part of the cease-fire deal, he was released after 24 years in jail.

(Cheering)

Leila Molana-Allen:

His family was ecstatic, but Jihad didn't get to go home. Instead, he was exiled to Egypt without warning.

Jihad Al Roum, Released Prior Exiled to Egypt (through interpreter): Personally, I faced beating and abuse multiple times, including deprivation and having my hands and feet tied. They'd leave me under the hot sun for hours and prevented me from going to the bathroom or being allowed hygiene essentials.

The food portions they provided were just enough to keep you alive. Whenever we told them there was a sick prisoner who needed immediate medical care, they'd simply respond: "When he dies, let us know."

Leila Molana-Allen:

Many released prisoners were too afraid to speak to us, fearing reprisals from Israeli authorities, even in exile.

Jihad Al Roum (through interpreter):

They threatened us that, even if we can't arrest you there, we will assassinate you.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Jihad says even as they heard their release had been confirmed, they were led to an open yard, where they were severely beaten for hours before being loaded onto buses.

Jihad Al Roum (through interpreter):

We got handcuffed and left on the ground for hours. Then we were beaten cruelly as if this was the last time they could assault us.

Leila Molana-Allen:

He told us that beating was so bad he couldn't sleep for the next two days.

Israel is still holding more than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners in prisons like the one behind me. Over a third of them are held under a system called administrative detention, whereby Israel can detain Palestinians for a period of up to six months with neither charge nor trial. But those orders can be renewed indefinitely under a secret file that neither the prisoner nor their lawyer is allowed to see.

That system is illegal under international law, and so is the detention of children, except under very strict parameters, which rights organizations say Israel is failing to meet. Under Israeli law, an Israeli citizen becomes an adult at 18, but a Palestinian is deemed an adult at 16.

Even so, children as young as 12 are regularly detained, most often for throwing rocks or incendiary materials at Israeli tanks and soldiers.

Adel, whose name we have changed to protect his identity, is just 15. He's been arrested three times since he was 13, and last year was shot in the legs by an Israeli soldier, needing multiple surgeries. He says, after October 7, the child managers meant to monitor their treatment in jail were dismissed and new guards raided their cells nightly.

"Adel," Released Child Prisoner (through interpreter): They took us out to the yard and went into the cells, where they took all our clothes and left nothing. Later, they started invading the adult department, where they beat and tortured them.

One prisoner was sick, and the other prisoner started calling for a doctor to help him, but the guards came inside and started hitting him to wake him up. Instead of getting a doctor, they beat him up. He died.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Adel told us they were regularly starved in those months, but as soon as the release deal was confirmed, they were suddenly given plenty of food.

“Adel” (through interpreter):

They treated us well, so we would look healthier when we leave, and say the prison situation is good. This only happens when there's a prisoner exchange, and once it's done, they return to their old bad behavior.

Leila Molana-Allen:

I ask him why he's taking such a risk speaking to us.

“Adel” (through interpreter):

You lose your dignity inside. I'm saying this today because the world should know the harsh conditions these prisoners are living in.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Israel's military press office said no bodies were tied prior to release in Gaza, but did not respond to specific allegations of signs of torture and execution on the returned bodies. It accused news outlets covering these allegations of effectively supporting Hamas' false propaganda.

An Israeli government official did not respond to specific allegations on the treatment of detained Palestinians and minors, but told the "News Hour": "Individuals are held in detention based on security considerations only and in full compliance with the law."

In a village perched on a hilltop in the occupied West Bank, Zaher Ibrahim waits for news, for justice, for a child. Zaher calls the cold and fearful night in February when Israeli forces stormed their home and attained his son for allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli military vehicles. Mohammed was just 15.

Zaher Ibrahim, Father of Mohammed: They blindfold him. They tied him up. They tied him up. And there was like 10 soldiers out here. Then there was three big military army jeeps, and they took him, put him in the — threw him in the back of the jeep. And that's the last time we heard him or spoke to him.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Mohammed and his family are American from a small community in Florida, but they say their U.S. passports, which once symbolized protection, have brought them little comfort.

Zaher Ibrahim:

When you say American Palestinian, Palestinian American, it's not the same as Israeli, Israeli American. And so even as a U.S. citizen, I don't think they really care. I think if it was an Israeli American, he wouldn't be there for one week.

Leila Molana-Allen:

They haven't been allowed to see or speak to him since his arrest, in contravention of international guidelines on detained minors. All they know is what the U.S. Embassy tells them, and that isn't much.

Zaher Ibrahim:

The U.S. Embassy visited a Mohammed and they confirmed he had scabies all over his body and has weight loss. He lost a good 30 to 40 percent of his body fat. And he's not getting sunlight. He's only getting — they're only allowing him out 10 minutes a day.

Leila Molana-Allen:

A State Department spokesperson told the "News Hour" it is providing consular assistance to Mohammed's family and that U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee and embassy staff are deeply involved in working on this case.

Mohammed wasn't released in the cease-fire deal. His family has no idea why. Today, after nearly nine months in detention, Mohammed had a hearing at Ofer Prison. His lawyer and the U.S. Embassy representative attended, but failed to negotiate his release.

His father still wasn't allowed to see him in person.

Zaher Ibrahim:

It's real tough on us, especially when we see these images of people coming out of jail. They come out like skeletons, like bones. You go to eat, then you think, what is he eating? We're trying everything to help Mohammed out, but it's dead end everywhere we go.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Thousands more Palestinian families still wait helplessly for news, praying to see their detained loved ones again, but dreading the very worst.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in the occupied West Bank.