Lama Khater
Since the beginning of the genocide launched by the Israeli occupation against the Gaza Strip, violations against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons have escalated. The occupation has carried out mass arrests in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and inside the Green Line, as well as in Gaza following the ground invasion. The number of detainees from Gaza has exceeded 15,000, including men, women, children, and the elderly, while over 10,000 Palestinians have been detained from the West Bank and Jerusalem since the start of the aggression.
The brutality of these arrests goes beyond just the numbers. Prisoners are crammed into overcrowded cells, and grave violations are committed against them both during arrest and inside prisons. In fact, threats of such violations began when the extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir took over the Ministry of National Security in late 2022. From the start of his tenure, he launched a campaign to restrict prisoners and deprive them of rights they had gained through long struggles.
In October 2023, with the onset of the Zionist aggression on Gaza, Israel’s prison authorities launched a brutal and escalating campaign against Palestinian prisoners. This included stripping them of all previous achievements and possessions, clearing their cells of all basic necessities, cutting off water and electricity most of the time, and isolating them completely from the outside world. All family visits were banned—visits that were previously allowed once a month. Medical treatment was deliberately neglected, and prisoners were crowded into tiny cells in large numbers. Basic hygiene products were only minimally available, leading to the spread of serious skin diseases, particularly scabies, which became rampant due to overcrowding, poor hygiene, and limited sunlight exposure—prisoners are allowed outside for only 30 minutes a day.
Clothing is another form of suffering. Prisoners are allowed only one outfit, and the lucky ones may have two pieces of underwear. These must be hidden from guards, who regularly search cells and confiscate anything beyond the bare minimum allowed. As a result, some prisoners wear their clothes right after washing them—even while still wet—due to a lack of alternatives. This has further contributed to the spread of skin diseases and fungal infections.
Perhaps the most severe form of abuse is starvation. Prisoners’ daily food portions are meager: a few spoonfuls of rice or bulgur, half a piece of vegetable, a few slices of bread, a small container of yogurt, and a bit of jam or hummus—barely enough to feed a child. This has led many prisoners to fast most days, saving what little food they receive to eat it all at once. This brutal starvation policy has left prisoners severely emaciated. Some families could not even recognize their sons after their release because their features and bodies had changed so drastically.
On top of all this, systematic and continuous torture is practiced inside the prisons. Upon arrest, detainees are subjected to brutal beatings that do not end when they reach prison. They are constantly vulnerable to violence and humiliation—be it during daily raids of their cells or when placed in isolated, filthy, and suffocating solitary confinement. These physical and psychological violations have led to the deaths of many Palestinian prisoners. Seventy-two documented cases include deaths from repeated beatings, prolonged exposure to the sun, or rape with sharp objects—among other forms of torture not yet documented by prisoner rights organizations.
The goal of the occupation is not merely to punish prisoners—many of whom were arrested simply for expressing opinions deemed as “incitement” or for praising resistance. Rather, the jailers seek to humiliate the Palestinian prisoner, break his will, distort his identity, and crush his spirit. There is also an evident desire for revenge, with guards using prisoners’ bodies as outlets for their hatred—just as Israeli soldiers unleash their fury by killing civilians in Gaza, demolishing homes, and starving people. Killing has become an addiction they cannot escape.
There is a fierce battle of wills taking place inside the prisons—no less intense than the one outside—between the Palestinian people and the arrogance of the occupier. In this battle, Palestinians pay dearly with their blood, their years, and their well-being. They struggle against impossible conditions and confront a massive machine of oppression, armed only with their rightful cause and their unwavering resilience—their last line of defense against genocide, displacement, and the erasure of their identity.