"Blindfolded with no food or water: Stranded workers from Gaza being kept in horrific conditions by Israel"

Israeli forces have kept workers from the Gaza Strip in extremely harsh conditions since the war with Hamas erupted, Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted detainees as saying.

These individuals have been kept in military bases in the occupied West Bank in places resembling chicken cages, under the sun and without food or water for long periods of time, workers who were detained told Haaretz...

Last week, The New Arab reported that thousands of Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip have been trapped in the West Bank since 7 October, and that these workers were forced by Israeli authorities to leave Israel for the West Bank.

"The workers were detained in the sun and without food for two days, while their hands were tied and their eyes were covered," Haaretz quoted one former unnamed detainee as saying.

"After that, thousands of workers were transferred to facilities, similar to cages, where they are detained in large numbers, and most of them are not even suspects," they added...

The unnamed worker says the detainees cannot use their phones and have not been given the chance to meet with lawyers, nor have they been visited by the International Red Cross.

He explains that he was arrested at the Ni’lin checkpoint in the West Bank’s Ramallah district as he tried to return home. The worker says he was taken to a room with about 100 other workers and kept there for three hours, without water and barred from using the toilet.

He says that they were then handcuffed and loaded onto a bus and taken to a military base...

The Centre for Individual Rights and Gisha – an Israeli non-profit organisation which aims to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians – told Haaretz that the families of these workers are worried about their fate and know nothing about their whereabouts.

This, the rights group said, was in violation of international law.

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency refused to disclose the number of workers being held captive, or those who Israel claims have cooperated with Hamas and have been subjected to investigation...