Israel stepped up its arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank, and mistreatment of prisoners in its overstuffed jails.
Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – Palestinian organisations are documenting abuses by Israel and its forces in hopes that one day it will be held accountable.
Among them is the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), which works to support Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of PPS, told media there have been even more serious violations of human rights and international standards on the treatment of prisoners these past months.
He feels, he added, that the Israeli forces’ transgressions are driven by vengeance against Palestinians since the October 7 attack by the Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Gaza governing party Hamas – and other armed Palestinian factions on Israeli territory.
Since then, Israel has launched a relentless assault on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 28,000 people. In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, it arrested about 7,000 people, sometimes without charges, making the total number of Palestinian prisoners nearly 10,000, adding serious overcrowding to the challenges they face.
At least 250 of those taken are children.
More than half of these detainees are in administrative detention, meaning Israel will hold them for months without due process or charges.
Hanin al-Masaeed from Bethlehem’s Aida refugee camp was arrested in October 2023 and released as part of the prisoner exchange deals in November.
After four days at the detention centre at Sharon prison, where female guards beat the prisoners, took away their blankets and mattresses at 6am, and gave them only one meal a day, she was transferred to Damon Prison.
Al-Zaghari told media that testimonies from released prisoners reveal beatings, insults, and threats of rape.
He added that the arrest of Palestinian women and girls has increased and that they face torture, ill-treatment, and intentional neglect.
Jaafar Obayat, who recently left Megiddo Prison after 17 years, told media that in the days after October 7, prisoners were assaulted and clothes, necessities, food, blankets, TVs, radios, tables and chairs were confiscated.
That prisoners had such items in their cells in the first place was the fruit of struggles by prisoners over decades.
The torture starts right away
In Negev Prison, prisoner Thaer Abu Asab was killed simply for asking a guard if there was a ceasefire, a released prisoner, who requested anonymity, told media. He added that prisoners were beaten in their cells near-daily.
When Abu Asab asked his question, the response was an ominous “I’ll show you,” then the guard called a whole unit into Abu Asab’s cell. They beat him with iron rods all over, including his face, and left him lying there.
The PPS has recorded thousands of injuries – fractures, bruises and worse – among imprisoned Palestinians who get no treatment. Eight prisoners have died in the last four months after being beaten and not treated, like Mohammed al-Sabar, who died in Ofer prison on February 8.
The significant overcrowding, lack of hygiene, hunger, and cold have led to diseases spreading among prisoners.
Jameel al-Draawi from al-Obeidiyah east of Bethlehem, who was released on January 11 after 18 years of detention, said the assaults, deprivations, and denial of medical care have made life unbearable for the prisoners.
Prisoners with chronic diseases, he added, were already neglected before the war but prison authorities then stopped their medications and treatment. Mobility aids and other medical devices were also taken away.
In prison, prisoners cannot shower and often have to wash their clothes and put them on wet because their other clothes have been confiscated, which spreads disease. Their cells are overcrowded, prisoners sleep on the floor without blankets.
PPS has also pointed out that Israeli prison authorities give prisoners nethier enough nor properly prepared food.
Israeli authorities have also started making Palestinians strip for transport and assign them numbers instead of names in an attempt to humiliate them – Israeli soldiers even circulate videos of themselves assaulting prisoners.
PPS also documented attacks in which special units entered prisoner’s cells to assault prisoners and trample on their heads. In one instance, prisoners were forced to the ground and female recruits were told to step on their heads.
Former prisoner Kamal Abu Arab said, “The occupation does not respect our humanity, and the prisoners feel forgotten. No one mentions them; no visits from lawyers, no visits from the Red Cross.
“News is prohibited, prayers and the call to prayer are prohibited, medical treatments are prohibited, and requests are prohibited. According to the administration of the prison service, we have no rights as humans.
“Does anyone remember us in this world?”
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