Thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons face systematic torture, starvation and medical neglect - report

Thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have reportedly been subjected to systematic torture, including deliberate starvation, severe beatings, outbreaks of scabies and medical neglect.

According to an investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, prisons that have effectively become "torture camps" over the past three years are not operating in secrecy. Instead, the alleged abuses are being carried out as part of an openly declared state policy central to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's political campaign.

The report said conditions on the ground have remained unchanged despite Israeli Supreme Court rulings ordering authorities to provide detainees with adequate nutrition and resume visits by the Red Cross.

As of September, only 16% of the 9,329 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons had been convicted by a court. The remainder were classified as administrative detainees, remand prisoners or "unlawful combatants," a designation not recognized under international law, according to the report.

The "unlawful combatant" designation reportedly allows authorities to hold Palestinians from Gaza, as well as Syrians and Lebanese nationals, without granting them the rights afforded to prisoners of war or ordinary criminal detainees.

Palestinian prisoners lose between 15% and 50% of their body weight

The investigation featured testimonies from five Palestinians from the occupied West Bank who were released between April 2025 and July 2026 from Megiddo, Nafha, Ketziot, Ofer and Damon prisons, the latter holding Palestinian female detainees.

Other former prisoners reportedly declined to speak for fear of retaliation.

All five interviewees said they had lost between 15% and 50% of their body weight because of starvation, suffered beatings severe enough to break bones and contracted scabies amid widespread outbreaks in prison wards.

The report identified Keter, a special rapid-response unit of the Israel Prison Service, as playing a prominent role in the alleged violence and systematic mistreatment.

It also noted that conditions faced by detainees taken from the Gaza Strip were considerably worse.

"They fired rubber bullets at naked prisoners in the showers"

Ali Samoudi, a 59-year-old journalist from Jenin who has worked with international news organizations including CNN and Reuters, said he entered prison weighing 120 kilograms and was released a year later after losing 60 kilograms.

Describing Israeli prisons as "graveyards for the living," Samoudi recounted:

"On the third day of Ramadan, guards stormed our ward carrying weapons and fired rubber bullets at naked prisoners in the showers. The food they gave us wouldn't even be enough for a cat.

"When prisoners asked to go to the infirmary, they were told, 'Go and let God or Gaza heal you.'

"Once, I fainted and hit my head. A security officer told me, 'Get up and go back to your ward. We can't give you a new head.'

"A prisoner named Louay Turkman fell ill and died before our eyes."

Female detainees subjected to strip searches, electric shocks and severe violence

Hiba Alawi, a 38-year-old mother of five with a heart condition, was detained after allegedly attempting to enter Israel without authorization to seek employment.

Despite facing no security-related charges, she spent five and a half months at Damon Prison, the only Israeli prison holding Palestinian women, because she could not pay a fine.

Alawi, who lost 36 kilograms during her detention, described severe torture and mistreatment.

Recalling a violent raid on the women's ward in March, she said guards threw gas canisters into the courtyard, forced detainees to lie face down, stepped on and beat them, and tightly restrained their hands with painful plastic handcuffs.

"They tried to put a very tight blindfold over my eyes. At first, it wouldn't fit over my head. Another female guard came and slapped me twice with all her strength, pulled my hair violently, forced the blindfold on and dragged me barefoot.

"They struck women on their legs when they tried to retrieve their slippers. Some were hit hard on the head. When they beat me, my teeth were broken. One guard crushed my toes, causing a toenail to come off.

"When I began reciting the shahada out of terror, a guard told me, 'Pray for your life.'

"They pointed a rifle at the head of another female prisoner who was reciting the Quran out of fear.

"We remained on the ground for about an hour. They took photographs of us, insulted us and threw another stun grenade between our legs while we were lying there."

Alawi said she was severely beaten on two other occasions, once receiving blows to the head and gas sprayed into her face, and another time being struck in the abdomen.

"I bled for 15 days. I need surgery because of the damage to my uterus," she said.

During her 170 days in detention, Alawi said prisoners were punished through starvation.

Breakfast consisted of just one spoonful of strained yogurt and a tiny amount of jam, while their daily bread ration was often limited to six slices that were either hard or soaked in water.

She said dinner sometimes consisted of raw, frozen or spoiled eggs, which the women were forced to eat because they were starving.

Pregnant women and minors denied care as hygiene supplies confiscated

Alawi said guards confiscated medication from women who required regular treatment during raids.

"Even pregnant prisoners received no help, whether they had a fever or were hungry. Underage girls were held in a separate cell and spent their nights crying. They were severely malnourished and allowed to shower only once a week," she said.

She said abuses intensified during Ramadan.

On one occasion, guards allegedly threw a stun grenade at the women while they were praying after a meal, beat them, dragged them into the courtyard and made dogs walk over their heads.

Alawi said guards also threw away food saved for the pre-dawn Ramadan meal and poured drinking water, which the prisoners had stored in bottles to allow chlorine to settle, over their clothes.

Women were given only three sanitary pads per month, she said, and guards scattered those supplies during raids, forcing detainees to improvise menstrual products from tissues and clothing.

"They forced me to undergo a strip search and gave me electric shocks on the day of my release"

Alawi said severe scabies outbreaks spread through the prison because detainees were denied adequate opportunities to shower and lacked clean clothing.

She also described harassment and violence on the day of her release.

"One female guard was particularly cruel. During raids, she would grope women and conduct strip searches.

"On the day I was supposed to go home, she ordered me to remove all my clothes, bend over and spread my legs.

"When I refused, she began shouting at me and shocked my body with an electric device.

"Two other female prisoners had complained about guards sexually harassing them. One guard had even taken a naked photograph of a female prisoner."

Alawi said she continued to suffer psychological trauma after returning home.

"No one comes out of prison normal. I still don't understand where I am. I have returned to life and am trying to forget, but I am still trapped in a nightmare.

"Even when I hear a key turning in the door or my children's voices at home, I feel as though I am still in prison."

"Prisoners with scabies had become walking skeletons"

Samer Huweira, a 45-year-old journalist who spent nine months in administrative detention at Megiddo and Nafha prisons, said he lost 22 kilograms and witnessed a devastating scabies outbreak.

Huweira said he still did not know why he had been detained because no indictment had been presented against him.

"Four days after my arrest, I was taken for questioning. A police officer asked whether I had a Facebook account. He opened it and said, 'Oh, look at this! You're inciting against us.'

"I told him, 'How can this be incitement? I posted a photograph of a young man killed by the army in Nablus and wrote that Israel had killed him. That was all. It was a news headline and a report.

"'I am a journalist covering Palestine, not Senegal. When something happens in Nablus, I report it.'"

Huweira described his arrival at Nafha Prison as the most terrifying day of his life.

"During the journey, your legs are shackled and your eyes are blindfolded. You are slapped, kicked and pushed throughout the trip.

"They drag you by the handcuffs like sheep until your hands begin bleeding.

"At the entrance to Nafha, you have to remove all your clothes. You bend over while they check whether you are hiding anything, and then they handcuff your hands behind your back.

"They took us one by one into a metal cage. Sirens sounded because of bombardment from Iran, and the guards abandoned us.

"You sit on your legs, the handcuffs tighten, blood circulation is cut off, and your hands become numb until you can no longer feel them.

"There was no food."

He said the prisoners remained in the cage for five or six hours before being forced to line up, each resting his head against the back of the person in front.

They were forbidden from raising their heads, and guards passed a rope through the line.

"We were like dominoes. An officer came and kicked the prisoner at the back of the line, causing all of us to crash into one another.

"They made 30 people walk like that. Since we were forbidden from raising our heads, we had to find our way blindly, hitting our heads against walls and doors.

"If the person behind stepped on the chain, you almost fell, and they laughed. Anyone who raised their head was slapped and kicked.

"It was a very dark day."

Huweira also described an incident in which guards allegedly threw grenades and fired four or five shots into the ground while prisoners were in the courtyard.

"They dragged us all into toilets filled with water. We were handcuffed.

"They began taking prisoners one by one into the showers, stripping them, beating them and photographing them.

"I don't know why they didn't take me. We could hear gunshots and screams.

"Then a 21-year-old prisoner returned to our ward. He pulled down his trousers and showed us a bloody mark about five centimeters wide on his buttock.

"He couldn't walk, but they threatened to shoot him again if he didn't return inside.

"For the next ten days, he couldn't walk, eat or sleep. No medic came to treat him.

"There was another prisoner in our room who had been shot with a rubber bullet from two meters away because he was too slow during a cell raid."

Huweira, who said no criminal case had been brought against him and no evidence of illegal activity had been presented, described the conditions of prisoners suffering from scabies.

"I felt sick when I saw people infected with scabies, their bodies covered in blood and blisters. They looked like walking skeletons.

"Later, I also contracted scabies. When I pulled down my underwear, everything was covered in blood and pus. I couldn't sleep because of the pain.

"I wasn't taken to a doctor for months.

"When I had a toothache and couldn't find any relief, I had to rinse my mouth with bleach.

"During raids, guards would crush our toothpaste and smear it over our beds."

Huweira said understanding what was currently happening inside Nafha Prison was "like trying to understand what is happening on Mars."

"Not a single minute is normal, not even one minute. One of the reasons I became ill was the constant fear," he said.

He was released in January 2026, having lost 22 kilograms. His nine-year-old son did not recognize him.

A short video showing Huweira tearfully describing his experiences immediately after his release was shared thousands of times.

Israeli Channel 7 subsequently published the video under a headline describing him as a "terrorist."

"Two of my ribs were broken by torture. We saved food to feel full for one day"

Rebi Abu Naim, a 35-year-old human rights activist detained at Ofer Prison for nine months, said prisoners secretly saved and exchanged food because of extreme hunger.

"We would save bread and boiled eggs and trade them among ourselves so that we could feel full at least one day a week.

"We called it 'a day of fullness.'

"To keep the food from spoiling, we wrapped it in wet socks and hung it by the window, making a makeshift refrigerator out of a plastic bag."

Abu Naim said he suffered severe beatings during prison raids.

"A guard from the Keter unit put my head between his legs while others beat my back.

"One guard struck my ribs with his knee, and I lost consciousness. Two of my ribs were broken, and I received no treatment for months.

"During morning roll calls, we were forced to bow as if prostrating ourselves while saying, 'Good morning, captain. Thank you, captain.'"

"You can get ointment from God when you die"

A 43-year-old former prisoner identified only as R., who was released from Ketziot Prison, described severe overcrowding.

He said 150 prisoners had access to just six cold showers, with the water supply cut off after half an hour.

R. said guards tightened handcuffs excessively and beat prisoners when they fell.

"Once, I asked a guard to loosen my handcuffs a little because I couldn't move. He started beating me.

"Then they would laugh at your condition.

"They were young, perhaps around 25 years old. There were many Druze among them, and they treated us even worse than the Jewish guards.

"When I contracted scabies, the prison doctor refused to give me medicine, saying, 'You can get ointment from God when you die.'

"At night, they would spray tear gas into the ward and close the door.

"Some prisoners transferred from Megiddo suffered such severe diarrhea that they soiled themselves. The guards deliberately made those prisoners distribute the food."

R. said guards played the radio at maximum volume during the night, while one guard sang songs and shouted insults at prisoners at 3 a.m.

He said guards threatened detainees, saying, "We are killing you. We are burning you."

According to R., he encountered similar conditions in all five wards where he was held.

Ben-Gvir: "I am proud that I turned prisons into a nightmare for terrorists"

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir previously responded on the social media platform X to a post by journalist Barak Ravid concerning allegations of torture against Palestinian prisoners.

"I am proud that I turned prisons into a nightmare for terrorists," Ben-Gvir wrote.

The minister also publicly boasted that Palestinian prisoners were being provided with what he described as the "bare minimum of the bare minimum" and were being made to suffer.

Ben-Gvir said these measures reflected his own policies as national security minister and expressed his desire to implement the same approach as defense minister.