A Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy group says abuse, torture and other violations against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons have escalated sharply over the past three years, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Center for Defending Prisoners said on Tuesday that Palestinian detainees endure torture, starvation, lack of medical care, isolation, and enforced disappearance. The violations affect administrative detainees, women and children, as well as Palestinians held in military camps and detention facilities closed to independent humanitarian and legal scrutiny.
The center noted that approximately 9,300 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are currently incarcerated in Israeli facilities. This includes over 3,100 individuals held under administrative detention, around 1,400 classified by Israel as “unlawful combatants,” nearly 90 women, and more than 350 minors.
The figures do not account for all Gaza detainees held in military facilities, the center highlighted.
It added that around 26,000 abductions have taken place in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds over the last three years, which includes hundreds of women and thousands of children.
The report said prison conditions have deteriorated sharply since October 2023, with authorities reducing food rations, lowering food quality, confiscating personal belongings, restricting shower and yard time, banning family visits, and intensifying searches and the use of solitary confinement.
Former inmates have reported repeated physical assaults, prolonged restraint, sleep deprivation, verbal abuse, threats and sexual violence, as well as violations of their privacy and dignity. They have also described the use of dogs and stun grenades during raids on prison wings and cells.
According to the center, around 1,500 Palestinian detainees are suffering from health problems linked to a lack of medication, delays in medical examinations and treatment, skin diseases, malnutrition and unsanitary prison conditions.
Women and children face humiliating treatment, shortages of personal necessities, physical and psychological abuse, and restrictions on communication with their families. Children are also denied access to education and care appropriate to their age.
The report said more than 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have died in Israeli prisons and detention facilities over the past three years, amid concerns that additional deaths, particularly among detainees from Gaza held in military camps, may have gone unreported.
The center also highlighted the role of so-called Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying he is pushing for harsher prison conditions, including reduced food rations and supplies, tighter restrictions and more severe punishments for Palestinian detainees.
It warned against exploiting the plight of Palestinian prisoners for political and electoral gain in the occupied territories, particularly by threatening to execute detainees.
The center called for the immediate disclosure of the whereabouts and status of all detainees who have been subjected to enforced disappearance or remain unaccounted for, and for prisons and military detention facilities to be opened to independent international inspections.
It also demanded legal representation for all detainees, the restoration of family visitation rights, and the provision of adequate food, medicine, clothing and other essential supplies.
It finally called on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and international human rights organizations to take decisive measures to protect Palestinian prisoners, examine cases of torture, deaths in custody, sexual violence, and medical neglect, abolish solitary confinement and collective punishment, and revoke Israeli laws permitting the death penalty.
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