Israel Holds 10,400 Palestinian Prisoners, With Torture And Starvation In Jails

The long litany of Palestinian deaths continues in Gaza and the West Bank, but the Agence Media Palestine article says “hell is also found among those who survive inside Israeli prisons,” where it says “at least 10,400 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails.”

“The long litany of Palestinian deaths continues in Gaza and the West Bank”

Agence Media Palestine

The same source says the number of detainees has “exploded since October 7, 2023,” with the Palestinian Prisoners Society cited for a rise from “5,250 to 10,400” since October 7.

Agence Media Palestine

It also describes legal mechanisms used to hold people without access to a lawyer, saying the Israeli parliament adopted a law in 2002 that allows detainees deemed “illegal combatants” to be held without access to a lawyer for “six months.”

In the occupied West Bank, the article says Addameer reports “more than 3,500” Palestinians are imprisoned under administrative detention, and it adds that the situation is “hardly any better” because prisoners are not entitled to a fair trial and have “no recourse.”

The article links the prison system to deaths in custody, saying Walid Khalid Abdullah Ahmad died in March 2022 in Megiddo Prison at age 17 “of starvation and dehydration.”

A l’Encontre’s partner outlet alencontre reports that Euro-Med Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, based in Geneva, published survivor testimonies saying Israeli Defense Forces brought Israeli civilians into detention centers and allowed them to watch and film Palestinian prisoners being tortured.

The article says former detainees described groups of “10 to 20 Israeli civilians” being brought in and allowed to record torture sessions where men were “beaten with metal batons, electrocuted, and had hot water poured on their heads.”

Al-Jazeera Net

Omar Abu Mudallala, 43, told Euro-Med Monitor that “The Israeli army brought a number of Israeli civilians to watch our tortures, naked,” describing how the captors claimed they were “Hamas terrorists who killed you and who raped your women on October 7.”

The same testimonies say the abuse occurred at Zikim, on the northern border of the Gaza Strip, and at a site in southern Israel attached to the Naqab (Negev) prison, with the article stating the incidents happened “five times during my detention.”

The outlet also quotes another former prisoner identified only as D.H., 42, saying “Israeli civilians were invited to witness the abuses and tortures that we endured,” and it adds that some Israelis brought dogs to bark at detainees and posted photos on social media apps including TikTok.

UN News says a 23-page report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes thousands of Palestinian prisoners kept in secret and, “in some cases, been subjected to treatment that could amount to torture,” including sexual abuse of women and men.

The UN report says detainees were moved from Gaza to Israel “usually handcuffed and blindfolded,” and it describes harsh conditions where detainees often wore “little more than diapers for long periods.”

It adds that “At least 53 Palestinian detainees have died in military facilities and Israeli prisons since October 7,” and it quotes UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk saying the testimonies describe “a series of horrific acts, such as waterboarding and releasing dogs onto detainees.”

The UN News article also says Israel has not provided information on the fate or location of many people and that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was denied access to the facilities where they are held.

Separately, Al-Jazeera Net reports that Palestinian pregnant prisoners face intensified hardship due to starvation and harsh detention conditions, naming three women and saying the Prisoners' Club warned that “pregnant prisoners are not immune to torture” and that systematic repression includes “humiliating and naked searches.”