Human Rights Watch describes Hamas treatment of captive as torture.
By ASSOCIATED PRESSGilad Schalit image + dad 311(photo credit: Associated Press)
Hamas has no news regarding the status of captive Gilad Schalit, senior Hamas operative in Gaza Mahmoud A-Zahar told Israel Radio in an interview on Friday.A-Zahar added that he "was not even sure [Schalit] remains in Gaza."RELATED:4th anniversary of Schalit abductionSchalit’s grandfather pessimistic after meeting with PMRed Cross visits wounded activistsThe US-based group Human Rights Watch said Friday that Hamas is violating the international rules of war by prohibiting Gilad Schalit from having contact with his family or visits from the Red Cross.Human Rights Watch called the treatment of the 23-year-old soldier "cruel and inhuman" and described it as matching the UN definition of torture because he is denied any outside contact.From Jerusalem, to Rome, to New York, supporters of captive soldier Gilad Schalit on Thursday cried out for his release as they marked the eve of the fourth anniversary of his kidnapping.In Rome, the lights of the Colosseum were turned off. So too, the lights around the Old City walls in Jerusalem.Lighting up the darkness at the walls was a sign showing the number of days, 1,460, that Schalit had been held by Hamas in Gaza, along with the line, “This is the time I have spent in captivity.”In New York, a flotilla of ships, called “The True Freedom Flotilla,” sailed from Pier 40 around the Statue of Liberty and past the buildings of the United Nations.
