Israeli Prison Authorities Tighten Solitary Confinement Rules For Jailed Fatah Leader Marwan Barghouti

Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is facing harsher prison rules after Israeli prison authorities intensified solitary confinement conditions at Ganot Prison, according to a statement from his office on Thursday.

The office said Barghouti has been held in isolation since November 2023, following frequent transfers between different prison wings since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

Akhbaar Hayat

Israel Army Radio reported last Tuesday that Barghouti was handed an additional two weeks of solitary confinement as a disciplinary punishment, and his lawyer filed an appeal after being repeatedly denied visitation rights.

The statement also said the earliest available meeting date offered by the prison service will be in September, while Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences after convictions for murder and attempted murder.

Human rights groups estimate that more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners are being held in Israeli facilities, amid reports of harsh treatment, medical neglect, and severe restrictions across the prison system.

In an interview conducted by Olga Rodríguez, Arab Barghouti said his father has been kept in isolation since October 2023 and that he has been assaulted several times by his jailers, with broken ribs, burns on his right hand, injuries to an eye and an ear.

Arab Barghouti said, "We could hear them screaming but we could not reach them"—but in this case he used the line to describe what he feared for his father’s condition, and he added that "The Israeli prison system is a horror."

Al Jazeera

He said the case has sparked a broad international campaign supported by eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates, cultural figures, and human rights advocates calling for his release.

The BBC reported that Hamas leader Osama Hamdan told BBC News Arabic that as a movement they have a clear position they still adhere to: the release of all prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons without exception.

The BBC also said Israel refuses to release Barghouti, and it described how the possibility of prisoner release in exchange for Hamas freeing hostages propelled Barghouti into the spotlight as a potential president of the Palestinian Authority.

A video posted by Itamar Ben Gvir showed him confronting and berating Marwan Barghouti in his cell, with the minister declaring in Hebrew, "You will not defeat us. Whoever harms the people of Israel, whoever kills children, whoever kills women (...) We will erase him."

The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry denounced the incident as "an unprecedented provocation" and described it as "organized state terrorism," while the Palestinian Authority’s UN mission said Barghouti has been kept in "isolation" and "lost more than half of his weight due to deliberate medical negligence and mistreatment."

The tv5monde report said the meeting took place at Ganot Prison during an inspection visit by Ben Gvir, and it described Barghouti as gaunt with his face hollow.

In a separate account, Al-Jazeera Net said Barghouti’s office disclosed that Israeli authorities tightened solitary confinement measures at Ganot Prison in the Negev Desert, moving him between solitary confinement sections.

Al-Jazeera Net added that Israeli Army Radio reported last Tuesday that the prison administration decided to impose solitary confinement on Barghouti for a period of two weeks, and that his lawyer submitted a petition after being unable to meet him, with the soonest visiting appointment offered in September.