GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Every time Mariam G. prepares food for her family, sharp pain shoots through her legs and back as a result of the severe torture she was subjected to in one of Khan Yunis’ police detention centers in southern Gaza. She was held on charges of possessing large quantities of the illegal drug Tramadol found at her place of residence in October 2014.

Mariam, who lives in Khan Yunis, told Al-Monitor, “During my interrogation, I was savagely beaten and kicked all over my body by male detectives from the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], which caused me to bleed between my legs. They then tied my hands and struck me on the feet with black knotted batons.”

She added, “Afterward, I was transferred to the Ansar prison in Gaza City, where I remained for eight months, and where my fellow prisoners saw the black and blue marks all over my body.”

The DEA’s director, Col. Sameh al-Sultan, whom Al-Monitor met at his office, denied the practice of torture by his department’s agents located in police detention centers throughout Gaza’s governorates.