Bound, blindfolded, and killed: The tragic fate of Gaza detainees at Sedetiman prison

Health officials in Gaza report that at least 135 mutilated Palestinian corpses, returned by Israel, were previously held at the Sedetiman labor camp in southern occupied Palestine. The camp is now under investigation due to the torture and deaths of detainees.

Munir Al-Barsh, Director-General of the Gaza Ministry of Health and spokesperson for Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told The Guardian that documents found inside the body bags indicate that all remains originated from Sedetiman.

The camp, previously infamous for holding Palestinian detainees in cages, blindfolded, shackled to hospital beds, and forced to wear diapers, has long been associated with severe human rights violations.

Al-Barsh noted that the labels inside the body bags, written in Hebrew, clearly show the remains were kept at Sedetiman and that DNA testing had been conducted on some of the bodies there.

Israel is reportedly conducting criminal investigations into the deaths of 36 Palestinians who had been held at the same detention center. As part of the Gaza ceasefire, Hamas returned several bodies of Israeli prisoners killed during the war, while Israel has returned 150 Palestinian bodies.

Images examined by The Guardian, too graphic to publish, show several victims with eyes closed, hands tied behind their backs, and one with a rope around the neck.

Torture and killings of Palestinian prisoners at Sedetiman

Gaza-based doctors state that Israel committed systematic torture and killings of Palestinians. Autopsies and field observations clearly indicate extrajudicial executions, torture, and deliberate killings of many detainees.

Health officials reported clear signs of close-range gunfire and bodies crushed under Israeli tank tracks. Eyad Barhoum, administrative director at Nasser Medical Complex, said that the corpses arrived without names, only coded identifiers, and the identification process has begun.

Evidence strongly suggests that many Palestinians were executed. Sedetiman has functioned both as a notorious detention camp, where detainees have died in custody, and as a storage site for bodies seized from Gaza. Human rights groups call for investigations to determine the number of victims who lost their lives there.

One of the returned bodies, Mahmoud Ismail Shabat, 34, from northern Gaza, showed signs of hanging and crushed legs, indicating he was killed or wounded before transfer to Sedetiman. His brother, Rami, identified him by surgical scars, stating that what shocked them most was his bound hands and clear signs of torture.

His mother asked, “Where is the world? All our detainees returned broken and tortured.”

Doctors report that the prevalence of blindfolded and bound bodies indicates torture and killings during detention at Sedetiman. Reports suggest nearly 1,500 Palestinian corpses from Gaza are kept there.

A witness who spoke to The Guardian described seeing a patient brought in with a gunshot wound to the left chest, blindfolded, handcuffed, and naked. Another detainee arrived with a leg injury in the same conditions.

Other testimonies describe Gaza detainees being shackled to hospital beds, forced to wear diapers, and blindfolded while in Israeli custody. Many suffered infected wounds and extreme pain, with one detainee losing a hand due to gangrene caused by tight handcuffs.

Palestinians experienced severe physical abuse in Israeli detention. Journalist Shadi Abu Sidu, working for Palestine Today, was abducted from Al-Shifa Hospital in 2024 and held for 20 months, including 100 days at Sedetiman, where he was blindfolded and handcuffed. He described being left naked in the cold for 10 hours and said: “We have killed all journalists once, but here you will die hundreds of times.”

Israeli detention centers: Horrific but not surprising

Naji Abbas, director of the detainees’ section at Physicians for Human Rights, stated that signs of torture and abuse found on Palestinian bodies are horrifying but unfortunately not surprising.

He emphasized that these findings confirm what human rights doctors have exposed over the past two years about conditions inside Israeli detention centers, particularly Sedetiman, where Palestinians have been systematically tortured and killed by guards and soldiers.

The unprecedented number of Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody, along with verified evidence of deaths from torture, medical negligence, and now findings from returned bodies, leaves no doubt. An independent international investigation is urgently needed to hold officials in the occupied territories accountable.