ISRAELI OCCUPIED WEST BANK, 19 Sept. - (ANA) - A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group warned on Wednesday that detainees held in Israeli jails are subjected to torture, food deprivation, and disease.

 

The Palestinian Prisoners Society noted in its statement that the use of electroshock devices and plastic bullets against Palestinian detainees had increased.

 

The group said its lawyers had gathered the latest evidence throughout September, during visits to dozens of detainees, including women and children, in seven Israeli prisons, collecting detailed testimonies.

 

It accused the Israeli prison system of continuing systematic inhumane treatment and acts of brutality that amount to crimes against humanity.

 

The statement also reported outbreaks of disease, particularly scabies, spreading in Negev and Ofer prisons.

 

 

Testimonies revealed that detention conditions remained unchanged, with prisoners left in constant hunger due to inadequate food and deprived of basic necessities.

 

Negev prison, one of Israel’s largest facilities holding thousands of detainees, has repeatedly been cited for medical neglect and starvation policies.

 

These conditions have deepened detainees’ suffering and turned the prison into a hotspot for disease and epidemics, leading to multiple deaths, according to the group.

 

In its statement, prisoners also told lawyers there are severe shortages of clothing, with some detainees unable to change clothes for as long as six months.

 

Female prisoners in Damon prison testified to repression, strip searches, beatings, and the denial of their specific needs.

 

In an August report, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs as saying that Palestinian women held in Damon prison face ongoing violations by male prison staff.

 

Former female prisoners described restrictions on access to personal hygiene supplies and clothing, suffering from skin rashes caused by heat, sweat, and humidity, as well as pressure on detainees to remove their Hijab head coverings.

 

Rights groups, Palestinian authorities, and the United Nations have consistently warned of a wider pattern of “medical neglect and starvation” that has intensified since the war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023.

 

In August 2024, Israeli rights group B'Tselem issued a landmark report describing Israel's prison system as a network of torture and abuse camps.

 

The report documented systematic practices including severe and arbitrary violence, humiliation, forced starvation, unhygienic conditions, sleep deprivation, bans on religious worship, confiscation of belongings, and denial of medical care.

 

 

Last month, The New Arab also reported cases of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, detention centres, and military bases.

 

As of August, at least 76 Palestinian prisoners, whose identities are known, have been killed during the nearly two-year-long genocidal war on Gaza, while dozens of others are suspected victims of enforced disappearance, according to a New Arab count.

 

The Palestinian Prisoners Society estimates that more than 11,100 Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons face torture, hunger, and severe health crises.

 

In Wednesday’s statement, the group urged the international community to act urgently, warning: "The crimes being committed have reached a level that can no longer be described in words."   - (ANA) - 

 

AB/ANA/19 September 2025 - - -