Three Palestinian brothers arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip claim they and their fellow detainees were beaten, stripped to their underwear, burned with cigarettes and other ill-treatment during their detention.

Sobhi Yassin and his brothers Shadi and Ibrahim are among dozens of Palestinians who took refuge in a school in Rafah, southern Gaza. Reuters was unable to verify their accounts, but they are consistent with descriptions given by more than 20 former detainees who have spoken anonymously about their mistreatment by Israeli soldiers.

The spokesman for the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) in his written response said that the Israeli army is acting with the aim of “dissolving the military capabilities of Hamas” and rescuing the hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group.

Detainees are treated under international law and are often required to surrender their clothing to ensure they are not carrying weapons or explosives, he added.

The Yassin brothers said they were taken from their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, separated from their families and held for two weeks in undisclosed locations, such as a barracks. Sobhi said he and his brothers were detained in early December after the Israeli army surrounded the area where they lived and worked as laborers in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. He claimed that four people beat him because he could not climb into a truck as he had injured his leg, before his arrest. They then took him to an open area where the people who had arrested them “smoked and extinguished cigarettes on our backs, threw sand and water on us, urinated on us.”

His brothers, Sadi and Ibrahim, reported similar mistreatment by Israeli soldiers. They said the Israeli military did not specifically accuse them of anything. They arrested them all together and then separated them. Sandy said he was put, along with other prisoners, into a garbage truck. “We were beaten, anyone who raised his voice after the beating was beaten again. They searched us, took our IDs, money and phones,” he said, inside the tent where he is housed with 20 other men, most of whom were wearing gray overalls provided to them by the Israeli army. Some showed wounds on their wrists, where their hands had been tied. One showed bruises and a crimson wound on his back.

The third brother, Yassin, described how he was handcuffed and blindfolded and led to interrogation. “They wouldn’t let us sleep. We stand for hours, as a punishment,” he said. He also claimed that they were insulted and not allowed to talk to each other or pray. “Then five soldiers would come and beat you alternately on the head and body,” he said, rolling up his sleeves to show the marks from binding his wrists.

The Israeli army left them separately at the Kerem Shalom border crossing. From there they walked several kilometers to reach Rafa, where they found each other again, among the thousands of people who have been displaced and are now living in overcrowded buildings or tents.

The spokesman for the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) in his written response said that the Israeli army is acting with the aim of “dissolving the military capabilities of Hamas” and rescuing the hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group.