Palestinian Prisoners Media: Prisoners’ testimonies confirm content of official “Israeli” report on deteriorating detention conditions
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office considered on Thursday that what was stated in an official Israeli report documenting an unprecedented deterioration in the conditions of prisoners inside prisons since October 7, 2023, unequivocally confirms what is mentioned in prisoners’ testimonies that reported their exposure to torture, repression, starvation, medical neglect, overcrowding, and the spread of diseases.
The Office pointed out in a press clarification on its website that the report issued by the so-called “Public Defense Office in (Israel)” about an unprecedented deterioration in the conditions of Palestinian prisoners documents dangerous levels of hunger, torture, and poor healthcare, amid unprecedented overcrowding and a detention environment described as “unfit for living”.
According to the “Prisoners’ Media”, the “Israeli” report, which was based on field visits to several detention centers during 2023 and 2024, clarified that the prison administration deliberately adopted a poor food menu, causing significant weight loss, fainting cases, and severe physical wasting among prisoners. It also revealed restricting detainees’ access to drinking water and a sharp decline in personal hygiene and medical care.
The “Israeli” report showed that more than 90% of security prisoners are held in an area of less than three square meters per person, and that thousands of them sleep directly on the floor due to a lack of beds. In some sections, detainee numbers reached levels exceeding capacity by hundreds of people, with cases of group sleep recorded in narrow and closed cells for 23 hours a day without sufficient ventilation or lighting.
The report noted a widespread spread of scabies at “epidemic” levels, alongside outbreaks of skin diseases, malnutrition, and injuries resulting from beatings.
It also documented “regular and systematic” physical assaults by guards, including beatings during searches or transfers between sections and courts, without security justifications.
In turn, the Prisoners’ Media Office stated that what is mentioned in the official “Israeli” report constitutes a clear acknowledgment of the scale of the crime committed against Palestinian prisoners and reveals part of a systematic policy based on deliberate neglect, starvation, and violence, in a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
The Office explained that the data contained in the report reflects the transformation of the Zionist enemy’s prisons into an environment of systematic violations aimed at breaking the prisoners and harming their dignity.
It held the enemy’s government and the Zionist prison administration fully responsible for the lives and safety of Palestinian prisoners, demanding urgent international action to stop these violations, form an independent investigation committee to visit the prisons and directly observe the conditions therein, in addition to intervention by the International Committee of the Red Cross to resume its humanitarian role after the unprecedented restrictions imposed on its work inside the prisons.
The Office called for exerting official international pressure to ensure the provision of food, treatment, and basic humanitarian spaces according to international standards, stop the policy of assaults and torture, and hold all those involved accountable as stipulated by international laws.
It emphasized that the escalating suffering of prisoners is the result of a systematic policy aimed at revenge, warning that the continuation of international silence gives the Zionist enemy a cover to commit more crimes against them.