Horrific situations against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons

Israel has killed more than 8,000 Palestinians and injured more than 20,000 others in the besieged Gaza Strip as it tries to release about 200 Israeli captives who were taken by Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), since October 7 in response to imprisoning hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons for decades. 

Since then, talks and negotiations about prisoner swaps have been on the tables of the international community despite the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been an open-air prison for many years. However, the question has been raised about the fate of the Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons amid this ongoing war.

The situation of Palestinian prisoners was described as “horrific” because of Israel’s systematic crimes against them since October 7, Palestinian prisoner institutions announced in a joint statement on October 28.

As a result of these crimes, two detainees, Omar Daraghmeh and Arafat Hamdan, were killed inside Israeli prisons in only 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

Israeli prison administrations cut off electricity to the detainees’ cells, deliberately cut off water for long periods of time, and practiced a policy of starvation, the statement added, noting that Israel had withdrawn all food supplies from the prisoners’ sections and reduced meals to two meals.

The meals provided to the detainees are not well cooked, inedible, and in small quantity. Israel also prohibited salt, sugar, and other basic needs, the statement added.

Israel’s “heavily armed and repressive forces intensified raids on all sections of detainees, accompanied by systematic abuse and severe beatings, using police dogs, stun grenades, gas, and batons,” the statement continued.

Injured prisoners are denied treatment or being transferred to clinics or civilian hospitals, including those suffering from chronic diseases, the statement said.

The space available to detainees inside the cells was reduced, with up to more than 10 prisoners in one cell, as decided by the occupation government.

TVs, radios, books, and shoes were taken, and the Israeli occupation destroyed all the prisoners’ belongings, allowing them only one cloth. Family visits and lawyers’ visits were also banned.

Since the outbreak of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces detained more than 1,530 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 70 detained on Friday, October 27, announced the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

Prior to the start of the recent hostilities, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons as of October 3 reached more than 5,250 prisoners, including 39 female prisoners, 170 children, and 1,913 administrative detainees (detained without trails), according to the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA).

Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida announced that all Israeli captives (about 200) would be released only if Israel released all Palestinian prisoners.

Violence escalated between the Palestinians and Israelis on October 7, when Palestinian fighters from Hamas launched an unprecedented military operation, called Tufan Al-Aqsa (Al-Aqsa Flood), against Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied settlements near the Gaza Strip. The military operation is an attempt to end Israel’s violations against Palestinians, who have been deprived of their rights to their lands, and to put an end to the Israeli siege against Gazan residents and violations against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In response, Israel has since launched hundreds of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 8,000 people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and injuring more than 20,000 others. Meanwhile, the escalation of violence resulted in the killing of 1,400 Israelis and 3,400 others injured.