Gaza, September 22: At least two Palestinian fighters have reportedly lost their lives when Israeli tank shells landed in the proximity of Jabaliya refugee camp, in northern Gaza.
The Palestinians, who were killed during the Sunday attack, were identified as Muhammad Nasir and Abdel Hafez As-Silawi, 21, according to a report published by Ma’an news agency,
Nasir was said to be a member of Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), while As-Silawi was as a member of the armed wing of Hamas known as the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, alleged that the shelling was in retaliation to two rounds of shells fired from northeastern Gaza into Israel.
An unknown group, calling itself ‘Sunnah Members’, had earlier claimed responsibility for firing the two homemade shells.
The outfit had stressed that the attacks were a response to reports suggesting that Israeli prison guards sexually assaulted and abused female Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
According to a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS), female prisoner Tharwat Hamdan, 27, from Nablus, has claimed that she was harshly tortured and sexually harassed and threatened with rape when undergoing interrogation by Israeli intelligence to force her to confess and admit the charges brought against her.
In her testimony to the lawyer, Hamdan said that after she was taken from her home, she was handcuffed and blindfolded. The Palestinian woman was then taken to her aunt’s house where the Israeli forces arrested her cousin Khetam and took both girls to the Huwwara jail. She said that many other Palestinian females were arrested that night. In the jail, she was strip-searched by the Israeli soldiers.
Hamdan added that, while wearing the blindfold, the soldiers ordered her to run in the rain. She added that she was interrogated by an old man who attempted to attack her sexually and tried to take her jacket off.
She was transferred to Sharon prison where she was strip-searched by female Israeli soldiers and then she was taken to Petah Tikva prison for four days. She also said that she was threatened by the interrogators that her mother, father and brothers would be arrested if she did not admit to the charges.
Hamdan continued that she was questioned by four interrogators, who would threaten to rape her if she did not answer their questions.
—–Agencies