Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – Palestinian organizations document abuses committed by Israel and its forces in the hope that one day they will be held accountable.
Among them is the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), which works to support Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the PPS, told Tel Aviv Tribune that even more serious violations of human rights and international standards regarding the treatment of prisoners have taken place in recent months.
He believes, he added, that the transgressions of Israeli forces are motivated by revenge against the Palestinians since the October 7 attack by the Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza – and other armed Palestinian factions on Israeli territory.
Since then, Israel has launched a relentless attack on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 28,000 people. In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, it has arrested around 7,000 people, sometimes without charges, bringing the total number of Palestinian prisoners to almost 10,000, adding severe overcrowding to the challenges they face.
At least 250 of those arrested are children.
More than half of these detainees are in administrative detention, meaning Israel will keep them in detention for months without due process or charges.
The torture starts right away
Hanin al Masaeed, from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, was arrested in October 2023 and released under prisoner exchange deals in November.
She told Tel Aviv Tribune that on October 11, Israeli forces raided her home, gathered her family in a room, confiscated her cellphone and told her there was a warrant for her arrest. She had assumed the raid was a routine search, an everyday occurrence in Aida.
She was taken away, blindfolded, in an Israeli police car, accompanied by a female soldier playing Hebrew songs loudly, placing the loudspeaker near al-Masaeed’s ear to goad him. His hands were tied tightly for four hours.
After four days in the Sharon Prison detention center, where female guards beat prisoners, took away their blankets and mattresses at 6 a.m. and gave them only one meal a day, she was transferred to Damon Prison.
Al-Zaghari told Tel Aviv Tribune that testimonies from released prisoners reveal beatings, insults and threats of rape.
He added that arrests of Palestinian women and girls have increased and they face torture, ill-treatment and intentional neglect.
Beaten brutally
Jaafar Obayat, who recently left Megiddo prison after 17 years in detention, told Tel Aviv Tribune that in the days following October 7, prisoners were attacked and clothing, basic necessities, Food, blankets, televisions, radios, tables and chairs were confiscated.
The fact that prisoners had such items in their cells was the result of prisoners’ struggles for decades.
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 Tel Aviv Tribune. He added that prisoners were beaten in their cells almost daily.
When Abu Asab asked his question, the response was a grim “I’ll show you,” and then the guard called an entire unit to Abu Asab’s cell. They beat him with iron bars everywhere, including his face, and left him lying there.
The prisoners were afraid to seek medical attention, but ultimately, unable to see him in pain, they screamed until a nurse came to examine him. Two days later, they were told he had died.
According to the anonymous prisoner, everyone in Abu Asab’s cell was then beaten with an iron bar.
The PPS has recorded thousands of injuries – fractures, bruises and worse – among imprisoned Palestinians who receive no treatment. Eight prisoners have died in the past four months after being beaten and left untreated, including Mohammed al-Sabar, who died in Ofer prison on February 8.
Catastrophic conditions, humiliation
Significant overcrowding, lack of hygiene, hunger and cold lead to the spread of diseases among prisoners.
Jameel al-Draawi from al-Obeidiyah, east of Bethlehem, who was released on January 11 after 18 years in detention, said the attacks, deprivation and denial of medical care have made life difficult for prisoners intolerable.
Prisoners with chronic illnesses, he added, were already neglected before the war, but then prison authorities stopped giving them medicine and treatment. Mobility aids and other medical devices were also confiscated.
In prison, inmates cannot shower and often have to wash their clothes and get them wet because their other clothes have been confiscated, spreading disease. Their cells are overcrowded, the prisoners sleep on the floor, without blankets.
The PPS also pointed out that Israeli prison authorities do not provide prisoners with sufficient or properly prepared food.
Israeli authorities have also begun forcing Palestinians to strip naked for transport and assigning them numbers instead of names in an attempt to humiliate them – Israeli soldiers are even circulating videos of themselves being attack prisoners.
The PPS also documented attacks in which special units entered prisoners’ cells to assault them and stomp on their heads. In one case, prisoners were thrown to the ground and female recruits had to step on their heads.
Former prisoner Kamal Abu Arab said: “The occupation does not respect our humanity and the prisoners feel forgotten. Nobody talks about it; no visits from lawyers, no visits from the Red Cross.
“News is prohibited, prayers and the call to prayer are prohibited, medical treatment is prohibited and requests are prohibited. According to the prison administration, we have no rights as human beings.
“Does anyone remember us in this world?”
Since October 7, Red Cross visits to Israeli prisons have been halted, suspending responsibilities.
The organization visited each prison at least once a month and was officially informed by the Israeli Prison Service of all arrests. This allowed the Red Cross to inform the families of the detainees, but this is no longer possible.
Al-Zaghari says the Red Cross has not exerted enough pressure to ensure Israel’s compliance with international standards.
For his part, Ziyad Abu Laban, official spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, confirmed that there had been no visits to prisons since October 7 and that the resumption of visits was an absolute priority. .
Today, many Palestinians wonder why Israel is evading its responsibilities and question the effectiveness of international conventions and agreements.