B'Tselem, the remarkable Israeli NGO, has published a new disturbing report on the Israeli occupation, this time focusing on the Israeli prison system.
You can download the entire study here. A must read !
This report concerns the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and the inhuman conditions they have been subjected to in Israeli prisons since 7 October 2023. B’Tselem’s research for the report included collecting testimonies from 55 Palestinians who were incarcerated in Israeli prisons and detention facilities during this time. Thirty of the witnesses are residents of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; 21 are residents of the Gaza Strip; and four are Israeli citizens.1 The testimonies were given to B’Tselem after the witnesses were released from prison, the overwhelming majority of them without being tried.
The testimonies clearly indicate a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel:
Frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation, prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment – these descriptions appear time and again in the testimonies, in horrifying detail and with chilling similarities.
Over the years, Israel has incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in its prisons, which have always served, above all, as a tool for oppressing and controlling the Palestinian population. The stories presented in this report are the story of thousands of Palestinians, residents of the Occupied Territories and citizens of Israel, who have been arrested since the beginning of the war, as well as Palestinians already incarcerated on 7 October who experienced the massive increase in hostility from prison authorities since that day. 2
In early July 2024, there were 9,623 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities almost double the number just before the war began. Of these, 4,781 were detained without trial, without being presented with the allegations against them, and without access to the right to defend themselves, in what Israel terms "administrative detention."3 Some were jailed simply for expressing sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians. Others were taken into custody during military activity in the Gaza Strip, on the sole grounds that they came under the vague definition of "men of fighting age." Some were imprisoned over suspicions, substantiated or not, that they were operatives or supporters of Palestinian armed groups. The prisoners form a wide spectrum of people from different areas, with varying political opinions and only thing in common – being Palestinian.
The prisoners’ testimonies lay bare the outcomes of a rushed process in which more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, both military and civilian, were converted into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates. Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate as de-facto torture camps.
The abuse consistently described in the testimonies of dozens of individuals held in different facilities was so systematic, that there is no room to doubt an organized, declared policy of the Israeli prison authorities. This policy is implemented under the direction of the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, whose office oversees the Israel Prison Service (IPS), with the full support of the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The heinous attack by Hamas and other armed Palestinian organizations on 7 October and the widespread targeting of civilians deeply traumatized Israeli society, evoking deep-seated fears and an instinct for revenge among many. For the government and Minister Ben Gvir, this provided an opportunity to press harder with applying their racist ideology, using the oppressive mechanisms at their disposal. These include the prison system, for which they designed a policy aimed at trampling the basic rights of Palestinian prisoners underfoot.
On 18 October, the minister in charge declared a "prison state of emergency" as part of emergency legislation, producing a serious, substantive violation of the most basic human rights of Palestinian prisoners. Koby Yaakobi, a close associate of Minister Ben Gvir appointed by him as IPS Commissioner in the height of the war, declared his intent to "revolutionize" the IPS in keeping with the minister’s policies as soon as he took office, naming the downgrading of prison conditions a top priority.
That day, during the break, one of the guards threatened me that if I mentioned the name of any guard on his shift to the judge or to anyone else, he would punish me. He said there were no laws in the prison except his law. He threatened me in front of other prisoners, saying that when I was released, he would send a special unit to kill me in Um al-Fahem. I told him that wouldn't be a problem-Um al-Fahem is close to the prison and he was welcome to send them.
Testimony of Adv. Ahmad Khalifah, 42, from Um al-Fahem
As the testimonies reveal, the new policy is applied across all prison facilities and to all Palestinian prisoners. Among its main tenets are unrelenting physical and psychological
A clear indicator of the severity of the situation and the moral degradation of the Israeli prison system can be seen in the number of Palestinian prisoners who have died in Israeli custody – no less than 60. The report includes testimonies given to B’Tselem regarding three of these deaths. Thaer Abu ‘Asab, a 38-year-old from Qalqiliyah held in the Negev (Ketziot) Prison, was found dead in his cell on 18 November 2023. On his body were severe signs of violence.7 ‘Arafat Hamdan, a 24-year old diabetic from Beit Beit Sira who relied on insulin treatments, was found dead in his cell on 24 October 2023, two days after his arrest. The testimonies reveal he was denied proper medical treatment. Muhammad a-Sabbar, a 20-year-old from the town of a-Dhahiriyah who had an intestinal disease requiring a special diet, died at Ofer Prison on 8 February, according to testimonies due to lack of proper nutrition, poor medical care and brazen disregard for his condition.
The transition from what appears to have initially been spontaneous acts of vengeance to a permanent, systematic regime stripping away all protections designed to uphold and ensure the most basic rights of Palestinian prisoners was made possible when the government exploited its powers to enact draconian, injurious "emergency regulations" and applied them in a brazen, gross violation of multiple norms and obligations under Israeli law, international human rights law, the laws of war and humanitarian law. The violations included the widespread, systematic and prolonged commission of the crime of torture.8 Equally important, in these actions, Israel is trampling basic human morality underfoot along with the most protected human rights of prisoners held in state custody.
The legal gatekeepers, such as the High Court of Justice and the State Attorney’s Office, ostensibly entrusted with upholding the rule of law and protecting human rights, have bowed their heads in submission to Ben Gvir’s agenda, and allowed abuses and the total dehumanization of these prisoners to become the premise for the entire system’s operation. The result is a system that specializes in torture and abuse, where, at any given moment, many thousands of Palestinians are kept behind bars, most without trial, and all in inhuman conditions.
"The most terrifying part of that time was the night. Members of the unit would suddenly enter the cell, explicitly threaten to kill us, and beat us violently. They would also play loud music at night. We still had no blankets or mattresses. We barely survived those ten days. We felt like death was hovering over us every minute."
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb, 53, a father of five and resident of Hebron
Testimonies from inside: The reality in Israel’s torture camps
Overpopulation and crowding in cells:
The testimonies indicate that cell occupancy more than doubled. Cells intended for six prisoners held 12 to 14 prisoners at a time, with "excess" inmates forced to sleep on the floor, sometimes with no mattress or blanket.
No sunlight and no air to breathe:
Some prisoners found themselves locked in their cells throughout the entire day; others were allowed out for an hour once every few days in order to shower. Some never saw daylight during their time in prison.
Violent roll calls, increased frequency:
According to the testimonies, roll calls and/or cell searches occur three to five times a day. In most cases, inmates were forced to crowd together, facing the wall, with their heads bowed down to the floor and their hands interlocked on the back of their necks, in some cases kneeling in prostration as during prayer. These practices no longer serve their original purpose, and have become an opportunity for prison guards to unleash severe violence and another tool for humiliating and degrading prisoners.
Withholding access to the courts, aid agencies and legal counsel:
As the Emergency Regulations permit, the vast majority of the witnesses went days, weeks, and in some cases, months before being brought before a judge for the first time, and even then, the hearings took place remotely via Zoom. The menacing presence of the prison guards inhibited prisoners from complaining to the judges or reporting the torture they underwent. Meetings with legal counsel were denied for increasingly long durations, reaching as much as 180 days, on the pretext of "dynamic needs on the ground." Most of the witnesses interviewed for this report did not see their lawyers once during their entire incarceration. They were also prevented from meeting with representatives of the ICRC, aid and human rights organizations, the Public Defender’s Office, or other official oversight bodies.
Confiscation of personal possessions:
One of the very first steps taken by prison authorities as soon as the war began was to confiscate all shared and personal property that Palestinian prisoners kept in their cells.
Unrelenting physical and psychological abuse
Institutional violence against Palestinian prisoners by prison authorities has become more frequent and more virulent since 7 October. Testimonies attest to physical, sexual, psychological and verbal violence, directed at all Palestinian prisoners and perpetrated in an arbitrary, menacing fashion, usually under a shroud of anonymity.
The scope of violence emerging from the testimonies clarifies that these are not isolated, random incidents, but rather an institutional policy integral to the treatment of prisoners.
Physical violence and intimidation:
Pepper spray, stun grenades, sticks, wooden clubs and metal batons, gun butts and barrels, brass knuckles and tasers, attack dogs, beatings, punches and kicks – these are just some of the methods used to torture and abuse prisoners according to the testimonies. These assaults were described as a fixture of everyday life in prison and often led to severe injuries, loss of consciousness, broken bones, and in extreme cases even death.
"A soldier approached me and smashed my face with his boot. He ordered me to stand up. I told him I couldn’t stand on my legs. He said, 'We’re going to kill you.' I told him again that I couldn’t get up, and he left me alone. I stayed there, bleeding, and began to recite the Shahada [a verse from the Quran recited before death] because I was sure I was going to die."
Nimer a-Nimer (12 years old) from Gaza City."
Extreme violence during transfers and travel:
The testimonies attest to severe violence used against prisoners during transfers: whether between prison facilities, in prison waiting areas used as way stations prior to admission into prison or travel out of it (also known as "transitions"), and sometimes during transitions between wings and other areas inside the prison itself.
Sleep deprivation:
Sleep deprivation was an integral part of the daily abuses meted out on inmates. In some cases, the lighting in the cells is on throughout the night; in others, guards played loud music or unpleasant sounds to keep prisoners from sleeping. These are acts that sometimes amount to actual torture.
Sexual violence:
Various testimonies revealed repeated use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of severity, by soldiers or prison guards against Palestinian detainees. The witnesses described blows to the genitals and other body parts of naked prisoners; the use of metal tools and batons to cause genital pain; the photographing of naked prisoners; genitals being grabbed; and strip- searches for the sake of humiliation and degradation. The testimonies also reveal cases of gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of prison guards or soldiers. One particularly grave testimony, quoted at length in the report, describes the attempted anal rape with a foreign object of a Palestinian detainee by several prison guards. Similar incidents were mentioned in other testimonies.
Absence and denial of medical treatment:
Many witnesses said that prison guards and medical staff at the detention facilities and prisons refrained from providing essential medical care or refused to do so, even in life-threatening situations. In some cases, medics and other medical staff admitted to prisoners they had received instructions not to provide treatment and medication to inmates, even when the treatment in question was life-saving. The denial of medical care and improper treatment of patients often led to horrific outcomes, causing long-term injuries. One example can be found in the testimony of Sufian Abu Saleh, a 43-year-old from Gaza who was held in the Sde Teiman military detention facility. Abu Saleh’s leg had to be amputated as a result of injuries caused by soldier violence, harsh incarceration conditions, inadequate treatment, and indifference on the part of the facility’s personnel.
Food deprivation and starvation:
The reduced amounts of food provided to Palestinian prisoners and limited calorie intake are part of the new policy declared by the Minister of National Security when he first took office.13 The witnesses spoke about the extreme hunger they were forced to endure and the poor quality of the food, which was often undercooked or past its expiry date. The policy of starvation affected prisoners’ health and physical shape. The profound lack of food resulted in significant weight loss, sometimes amounting to tens of kilograms.
Hygiene and cutting off the water supply
Witnesses spoke of being forced to live in filth during their incarceration, as a result of the blanket confiscation of bathing, cleaning and washing supplies, the water supply cut off in cells, and the limited access to shower facilities that were not meant for such a large number of prisoners in the first place. In many cases, toilet tanks had running water for only one hour a day as well. Prison cells were turned into a sanitary hazard and made unfit for human habitation. These conditions led to the development and spread of diseases and various health problems.
The Israeli apartheid regime’s incarceration project
The story of Israel’s incarceration project did not begin on 7 October, nor with Itamar Ben Gvir’s appointment as Minister of National Security. The current situation, as horrifying as it may be, cannot be fully understood without examining the key role this project has played in the social and political oppression of the Palestinian collective throughout the years.
The prison system is one of several means of control and oppression used by the Israeli apartheid regime to preserve Jewish supremacy between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For decades, Israel has used the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from all walks of life to undermine and unravel the social and political fabric that binds the Palestinian population. According to various estimates, since 1967, Israel has imprisoned over 800,000 Palestinian men and women from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which accounts for about 20% of the total population and about 40% of all Palestinian men.
The scale of this incarceration project means there are hardly any Palestinian families without a member who has been through the Israeli prison system. The project is underpinned by the same repressive logic found elsewhere in Israeli apartheid. Here, too, Palestinians are completely dehumanized and treated as a homogenous, faceless mass, stripped of any individual identity. All are deemed "human animals" and "terrorists" simply because they are behind bars, whether their detention was justified or arbitrary, lawful or not. This is how their abuse and degradation, and the violation of their rights, become permissible.
The incarceration project is one of the most brutal and extreme manifestations of Israel’s system of control over the Palestinians. The released prisoners who spoke to B’Tselem for this report described a wide range of measures used for control and oppression. The value of their testimonies goes beyond providing an account of the appalling reality inside Israeli prisons and detention facilities since October 7. They are a window into a much broader reality.
Given the political function that Israel’s prison system fills, in the context of the accelerated dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli discourse, a radically right-wing government, a weak judicial system swept up in public sentiment and a minister in charge of prisons who takes pride in violating human rights — this system has become an instrument for the widespread, systematic and arbitrary oppression of Palestinians through torture.
The testimonies presented in this report provide an account of how Israeli prison facilities have been turned into a network of torture camps.
Given the severity of the acts, the extent to which the provisions of international law are being violated, and the fact that these violations are directed at the entire population of Palestinian prisoners daily and over time – the only possible conclusion is that in carrying out these acts, Israel is committing torture that amounts to a war crime and even a crime against humanity.
We appeal to all nations and to all international institutions and bodies, including the International Criminal Court, to do everything in their power to put an immediate end to the cruelties meted out on Palestinians by Israel’s prison system, and to recognize the Israeli regime operating this system as an apartheid regime that must come to an end.
Read the full testimonies on B'Tselem's website https://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell