The IDF has discovered thousands of hours of surveillance footage documenting Hamas terrorists torturing Palestinian civilians at a military facility in northern Gaza, according to reporting from The Mail on Sunday.
The videos – found on computers seized from a compound in the Jabalia refugee camp – show disturbing scenes of systematic abuse between 2018 and 2020. The footage reveals prisoners, hooded and chained, being subjected to various forms of torture while their captors appear casual and indifferent.
Video: Hamas operatives torturing Gazan civilians, found by the IDF
"The IDF found these CCTV images in March. It took months to go through them all," a senior Israeli military source told The Mail.
In multiple recordings, prisoners are shown with sacks covering their heads, restrained to floors and ceilings. One sequence depicts a guard reclining in a chair while a prisoner hangs by his arms from the ceiling. Another shows a hooded prisoner in chains, barely able to touch the ground with one foot, before being choked by his captor.
Hamza Howidy, 27, who fled Gaza after being detained for protesting against Hamas, described his experience to The Mail. "They would torture you until you broke and say whatever it is they wanted," he said. "I could hear my fellow protesters scream in the next room."
According to Howidy, who escaped through the Egyptian border in September last year, one detainee was tortured three times weekly for three years. "You would never get a lawyer and your family would have no idea what happened to you. I was lucky because my family paid a price for me," he said.
Human rights organizations have long documented Hamas' abuse of civilians. Amnesty International published a 44-page report highlighting a campaign of abductions, torture, and killings following the 2014 conflict.
A former Israeli intelligence officer, identified as Guy C, told The Mail that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was eliminated by the IDF last month, was "obsessed with finding collaborators and held thousands against their will." The officer detailed brutal torture methods, saying, "They have been known to melt plastic over skin, electric cables on their body. Some are electrocuted on electricity pylons or dragged on a chain from a vehicle until they die."
Palestinian Ahmed Fouad Alkharib, now a fellow at the Atlantic Council think-tank in the US, said, "Extreme torture has been a fundamental component of Hamas' governance strategy to ensure they deter people and instill fear in those who speak out."
