ouse Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Brian Mast ordered committee staff to refer to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as “Judea and Samaria,” according to a copy of an internal committee memo obtained by Axios.
Mast wrote that “in recognition of our unbreakable bond with Israel, the House Foreign Affairs committee will, from here forward, refer to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria in formal correspondence, communication and documentation.”
Tech giant Microsoft removed five employees from a live meeting after they had protested the company’s complicit in the Israeli crimes and its contract with the Israeli army, AP reported.
They protested for providing artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to the Israeli army, which it used to target civilians in war-torn Gaza.
It came after an investigation by AP found that an AI models from Microsoft and Open AI had been used in Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Mohammed Abu Tawila is one of many Palestinians who went through extreme conditions in Israeli jails. Recently released, Abu Tawila says Israeli jailers poured acid and other chemicals on his body during an interrogation.
Abu Tawila was kidnapped from Gaza and subjected to severe beatings, including punching him in the eye.
He was tortured with chemical substances, including chlorine, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, soap, and air fresheners.
“They were ignited on my body for three days.”
“My eye was included [in the torture]. One of them would keep punching me in the eye, while wearing gloves with something tough, that resembled bone,” he recounts.
Abu Tawila would later collapse on the rubble due to the severe beating.
Once the Israeli soldiers saw how his body had reacted to the acid attack and other chemicals, they transferred him to the occupied West Bank.
Abu Tawila remained in the hospital for a few weeks before his transfer to the notorious Ofer military prison.
“Of course, there was also torture in the occupied territories, from beatings, to insults and humiliation, not to mention hunger and sitting in the cold.”
“They [Israeli guards] would release dogs on us, storm in and beat us inside, tie our hands, and take us outside to the prison yards.”
“They would also kick us, causing our faces to swell and bleed,” Abu Tawila recounts.
In a recent post on X, Israel’s far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir shared a video showing the abuse and humiliation of Palestinians in the Keziot prison, located in the Negev desert.
In the clip, a detainee can be seen kneeling and painting the prison walls, while an Israeli guard stands over him, pointing a weapon in his direction.
Several other prisoners are shown kneeling and facing the opposite wall.
Testimonies also describe regular beatings by guards, extreme overcrowding, humiliation and inadequate hygiene.
In early August 2024, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem accused Israeli authorities of systematically abusing Palestinians in “torture camps,” subjecting them to severe violence and sexual assault.
Human rights organizations say Israel continues to violate all rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws.
Dozens of Palestinians killed in Israeli detention
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said at least 59 Palestinians held by Israel have lost their lives since October 2023.
The PPS said 38 people of the group are from the Gaza Strip.
The PPS accused the Israeli authorities of hiding the death of scores of Palestinian prisoners in detention.
Separately, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs confirmed that Musab Hani Haniyeh was the latest victim who died in Israeli custody according to PressTV.
Haniyeh, 35, from the southern city of Khan Yunis, was abducted on March 3, 2024. His family said Haniyeh was in good health before his detention.
More than 14,500 Palestinians have been kidnapped by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank since October 2023. Dozens of them have died in detention in recent months.
Daniel Levy, a British-Israeli political analyst and former peace negotiator, stated: “A minute of silence for each of the Bibas children would be appropriate, as would a minute of silence for each of the more than 18,000 Palestinian children murdered in Israel’s devastation of Gaza. That silence would extend to over 300 hours.”
Israel is set to release 620 Palestinian detainees after days of stalling by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The expected release as announced by Hamas will now proceed as originally scheduled.
Hamas had stated that Israel violated the ceasefire agreement, in place since 19 January 19, by freezing the release of Palestinian detainees. It insisted Israel failed to uphold its commitments, after Hamas released Israeli prisoners as agreed. Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi warned that no releases would mean that the deal to release more of the hostages would be off-the-table.
The Israeli government is angry because of the way the Israeli hostages are being released through “humiliating ceremonies” especially after an Israeli prisoner expressed gratitude to Hamas fighters upon release, kissing their foreheads.
However, Israel soon caved in under pressure from the countries sponsoring the negotiations mainly, the USA, Egypt and Qatar.
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