Palestinian prisoner Kamal Abu Shanab said on Monday that Israeli authorities continued to torture and abuse detainees until the very moment of their release, describing widespread violence and inhumane conditions inside Israeli prisons.
Abu Shanab, 58, was released Monday as part of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that began last Friday, reportedly under a plan brokered with US involvement.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Abu Shanab, a resident of Tulkarm in the northern occupied West Bank, said, ‘The situation in prisons is very difficult — torture, oppression, humiliation, and fear. Everything bad is happening to Palestinian prisoners. The situation is indescribable.’
He showed marks on his wrists and ankles, saying the Israeli Prison Service kept detainees scheduled for release ‘handcuffed and shackled on the gravel for more than six hours.’
Abu Shanab, who had served 15 years of a life sentence, recalled hearing soldiers express disbelief at the prisoners’ endurance: ‘They said, ‘How can they withstand this? What kind of strength do they have?’’
He added that prisoners were ‘subjected to humiliation and torture’ and that ‘everything was done to break them.’
Several former detainees also told Anadolu Agency that conditions in Israeli prisons have sharply deteriorated since the start of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza on 7 October 2023, citing reports of torture, starvation, and medical neglect.
According to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, more than 10,000 Palestinians — including children and women — remain in Israeli prisons, many facing violent treatment and deprivation of the most basic life-sustaining needs.