Gaza Herald- The situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention has entered a critical and deeply alarming phase, increasingly exposed through testimonies from recently released detainees and their families, as well as documentation gathered by local and international human rights organizations.
These accounts reveal a complex and harrowing human reality marked by escalating systematic abuses, deteriorating living and health conditions, and daily challenges faced by prisoners, from severe restrictions on communication with the outside world to medical neglect, harsh treatment, and grave violations that include sexual violence, torture, and even killings.
According to documented testimonies from Palestinian prisoners released in recent months, a systematic pattern of sexual torture has emerged inside Israeli prisons. This includes rape, forced stripping, coerced filming of detainees while naked, the use of objects for sexual assault, and even attacks carried out by dogs.
One of the most shocking cases involves a 42-year-old woman who reported being raped four times by Israeli soldiers, subjected to verbal degradation, stripped and photographed naked, electrocuted, and beaten across her body, according to her testimony to specialized human rights centers.
Palestinian human rights groups stress that these are not isolated incidents but part of what they describe as a “systematic policy linked to acts of genocide” targeting Palestinians. UN human rights officials have called for independent international investigations into these violations.
Violations Beyond Imagination
Abdullah Al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, emphasized that the atrocities committed against detainees during the genocide have surpassed all conceivable limits, from systematic torture and starvation to medical crimes and sexual violence, including rape.
He noted in statements monitored by the Palestinian Information Center that new testimonies continue to emerge daily, revealing increasingly alarming details about the nature of the ongoing atrocities inside Israeli prisons.
Al-Zaghari pointed out that Israel’s admission to Physicians for Human Rights – Israel of the deaths of 94 prisoners since the start of the genocidal war until August 2025, followed by four additional cases, raising the number to 98, strongly suggests that the real toll is far higher and likely exceeds one hundred. The number is not final.
Meanwhile, Palestinian human rights groups have documented the deaths of 81 prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
A Revenge Mentality
Hassan Abdel-Rabbeh, adviser to the Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, said recent testimonies show a sharp rise in violent repression tactics, including severe beatings, painful shackling, and forcing prisoners into stress positions for extended periods — resulting in serious injuries that led some detainees to be hospitalized.
He explained in an interview with the Palestinian Information Center that what is happening goes far beyond harsh treatment and now constitutes direct physical torture. The testimonies of prisoners and former detainees reveal unprecedented levels of physical and psychological abuse.
Abdel-Rabbeh also said that several female prisoners provided shocking accounts of systematic humiliation and brutality, in the complete absence of international monitoring inside Israeli prisons.
According to him, these testimonies confirm that prison authorities are operating with a “revenge mentality” after the events of the war, with the aim not only of controlling detainees but of breaking their will.
He added that many accounts describe sexual assault, threats, and blackmail, including cases that reached the level of rape, calling these “grave violations that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law.” He urged international institutions to see these testimonies as a warning bell that demands immediate action.
Abdel-Rabbeh further noted a rapid and severe deterioration in the health conditions of prisoners due to deliberate medical neglect, denial of treatment and medication, and lack of medical examinations. Diseases and untreated injuries have spread widely among detainees. He stressed that the denial of medical care is no longer an exception but a fixed policy.
He called on the international community and UN investigative committees to intervene urgently and pressure Israel to open its prisons to independent monitoring bodies. Continued silence, he said, will entrench these abuses into a permanent system. “The rights of prisoners are not just a humanitarian issue,” he added, “but a political and moral matter tied to the dignity of the Palestinian people.”
He urged human rights organizations to document every testimony emerging from inside the prisons, describing these accounts as vital evidence that must be used before international courts and institutions to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.
A Terrifying and Shocking Reality
Qaddoura Fares, former head of the Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, said the testimonies released by prisoners in recent weeks reveal an unprecedented level of organized violence inside Israeli prisons. He affirmed that Israel is using torture as a political tool to collectively punish Palestinian society.
Speaking to the Palestinian Information Center, Fares said the accounts of female prisoners have shocked public opinion, as they described severe psychological and physical torment and deliberate attempts to break them emotionally and morally. He emphasized that what they endure places Israel squarely under accusation of committing grave violations that violate all international laws and norms.
Fares added that many accounts described sexual assaults and rape, stressing the urgent need for an immediate international investigation. “Sexual violence,” he said, “is not just an attack on the prisoner’s body, but an attempt to erase her humanity.”
