HR Center: 9,300 prisoners in occupation prisons face torture

The Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners revealed on Tuesday a surge in violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, three years after the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2013. These violations include increased arrests, torture, starvation, medical neglect, solitary confinement, and a growing number of forcibly disappeared individuals.

In a report published today, the Center stated that the past three years have witnessed a transformation in the reality of detention, with violations now extending to convicted prisoners, administrative detainees, women, children, and the sick, in addition to those held in military camps and closed facilities far removed from independent humanitarian and legal oversight.

According to the Center’s data, the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons is approximately 9,300, including more than 3,100 administrative detainees, about 1,400 detainees classified by Israel as “unlawful combatants,” nearly 90 female prisoners, and more than 350 children. According to the center, these figures do not include all detainees from the Gaza Strip held in military facilities. Approximately 26,000 arrests were recorded in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past three years, including hundreds of women and thousands of children, not including the widespread arrests in the Gaza Strip, for which data is incomplete.

The daily arrest campaigns, home raids, and arrests at checkpoints continue, coinciding with the renewal of administrative detention orders based on secret files, the report states.

The center noted that the conditions of prisoners’ detention have undergone significant changes since October 2023, including reduced food rations and a decline in food quality, confiscation of clothing, blankets, and personal belongings, restrictions on showering and access to the yard, and the prevention of family visits, in addition to expanded search procedures and solitary confinement.

The report included testimonies from released prisoners regarding their repeated beatings, prolonged periods of restraint, sleep deprivation, insults, and threats, as well as sexual assaults, violations of privacy and human dignity, and the use of dogs and stun grenades during raids on prison sections and cells. On the health front, the center reported that about 1,500 prisoners are suffering from illnesses or health problems, amid shortages of medicine, delays in examinations and treatment, the spread of skin diseases, malnutrition and lack of hygiene, warning of the repercussions of these conditions on chronically ill, wounded and elderly people.

According to the report, female prisoners and children are subjected to degrading treatment, including physical and psychological abuse, lack of personal necessities, and denial of family contact. Children are also deprived of education and age-appropriate care.

The report states that more than 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have died in Israeli prisons and detention centers over the past three years. There are concerns that there are other victims whose identities and circumstances of death have not been disclosed, particularly among detainees from the Gaza Strip held in military camps.