Detainees claimed extreme forms of torture and ‘subhuman conditions,’ in the report, with 67 percent of prisoners surveyed by an Israeli physicians’ group facing severe violence. Despite these allegations, the Israel Prison Service insists it operates ‘lawfully’, while the Shin Bet claims its interrogations are ‘legally supervised’
Haaretz
A report published Tuesday by the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem details abuses in Israeli security prisons, citing testimonies of violence by prison guards, soldiers, and Shin Bet personnel, including sexual violence, starvation, mistreatment, harsh living conditions and the denial of medical care.
The report, based on interviews with released prisoners, includes testimony from four former inmates describing ‘a grave pattern of sexual violence’ by prison guards and soldiers, that included ‘forces stripping, beatings to the genitals that caused severe injuries, setting dogs on prisoners and forced anal penetration with various objects.’
The report was released following a series of similar testimonials that were published over the past two years, indicating a severe deterioration in the detention conditions of Palestinian prisoners.
A testimony by 35-year-old Gaza resident Muhammad Abu Tawilah said that during his interrogation, soldiers put out cigarettes on his body, poured hydrochloric acid on him, and burned his back with a lighter. ‘Because of the burns, I lost sight in my left eye,’ he said.
Another prisoner, who was released in October after being held in the Sde Teiman detention facility and the Ofer and Ketziot military prisons, describes how, for the interrogations, he was taken to a room the soldiers called the ‘disco’ room, where he was severely abused.
‘For six days, I was given only a bottle cap of water a day to drink, and to eat only one cucumber and a piece of rotten bread that the soldier stepped on before giving it to me,’ his testimony says. ‘I was beaten nonstop and often given electric shocks.’
‘I sat on a metal chair from morning until night. Outside the room, there was a huge loudspeaker that played songs in Hebrew at an unbearable volume. My eardrum ruptured, and my ear bled. There was no bathroom in the room, so I peed in my clothes.’
Israel Prison Service facilities hold about 9,000 Palestinian security prisoners, the vast majority of whom have not been tried. They are classified under one of three categories: pretrial detainees, administrative detainees, and ‘unlawful combatants’ – an Israeli legal designation not recognized under international law, used to detain suspects from Gaza without granting them the rights afforded to criminal detainees or prisoners of war.
Since October 7, 2023, 84 Palestinian prisoners have died, including one minor, with Israel continuing to withhold the bodies of 80 of them. Since the start of the war, Israel has also barred the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting prisons, and the High Court of Justice has so far declined to order the state to allow such visits.
The report singles out what its authors describe as the ‘subhuman conditions’ in the Rakefet wing at Ayalon Prison. The wing was closed in the 1980s due to harsh detention conditions, but was reopened following an order by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. According to the report, it is considered the worst wing in the Prison Service, largely because it is located entirely underground, leaving inmates with no exposure to daylight.
Data published by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel shows that 67 percent of the 349 prisoners visited by the organization experienced at least one incident of severe violence inside detention facilities. Tamer Qarmut, a 41-year-old resident of Beit Lahia, testified that he was subjected to painful restraints for extended periods. He said the handcuffs were fastened so tightly that they wore through his skin and flesh down to the bone.
‘It was sharp pain all the time,’ he says. ‘When my condition got worse, the soldiers took me to a place where a female doctor treated me. It took her a whole day to drain a lot of infected blood and blood clots from my fingers, using only the most basic medical equipment. The treatment lasted three days in a row.’
The report also states that a quarter of the prisoners suffer from scabies. One such case is that of Jibril al-Safadi, a 45-year-old diabetic who was detained at Sde Teiman and said that a day after his arrival, he began experiencing severe pain in his feet.
‘A day after we arrived at Sde Teiman, I started feeling excruciating pain in my feet. Gradually, I lost the ability to stand. […] On 14 March 2024, I woke up and found myself lying in a large pool of blood. I was shocked. I looked at my feet and saw they were bleeding,’ he said.
Al-Safadi added that the violent blows he sustained to his kidneys aggravated his condition, and that doctors eventually amputated his right leg. According to his testimony, despite the amputation, he continued to undergo harsh interrogations that included torture until he was eventually released as part of the hostage deal.
The report also includes testimony from a prisoner describing a lack of access to clean drinking water, an issue also cited in reports by Israel’s Public Defender’s Office.
‘They cut off the water supply, and when they restored it, it was only for one hour,’ says Beit Lahia resident Ibrahim Fuda, who was held at Ketziot Prison. ‘We had no choice but to drink contaminated water. We collected water in the folds or lining of the tent, and sometimes we had to drink from the toilet cistern.’
Yuli Novak, executive director of B’Tselem, said in the introduction to the report that ‘Israeli prison facilities, both military and civilian, were transformed into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as policy. A space of this kind, in which anyone who enters is condemned to deliberate, severe and unrelenting pain and suffering, functions de facto as a torture camp.’
‘The genocide in Gaza, rampant violence and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and the persecution of Palestinians citizens of Israel, are also shaping the treatment of prisoners,’ she added. ‘Although the abuse is overt and well-documented, international actors have so far refrained from effectively intervening, another factor that enables the systemic torture to continue. Torture of Palestinian prisoners, all of whom are labeled ‘terrorists’ by the Israeli media, has become an accepted norm.’
The Israel Prison Service said in a statement that it ‘operates in accordance with the law, in line with statutory provisions and court rulings, and is subject to oversight and review by official supervisory bodies.’
‘All detainees are held in lawful custody, with their rights upheld, medical care provided as required and living conditions supplied in accordance with legal requirements,’ the statement added, noting that ‘any complaint submitted through the official channels is examined by the relevant authorities in accordance with procedures.’
The Shin Bet security service also issued a response, saying that interrogations ‘are conducted in accordance with the law and are subject to strict oversight, including supervision by legal authorities.’
The IDF did not respond to Haaretz’s request for comment.