An August 2024 report by Israeli human rights group B’tselem (@btselem on IG and X) details the abusive conditions Palestinian detainees endure in Israeli prisons, based on policies promoted by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and with the Israeli government’s support.
According to the report, ‘Since 1967, Israel has imprisoned over 800,000 Palestinian men and women from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which accounts for about 20 per cent of the total population and about 40 per cent of all Palestinian men.’
The report includes testimonies of prisoners held in military and civilian prison facilities in Israel and the West Bank. It notes that ‘over the past few months, during the war, Israel has disappeared thousands of Palestinians, mostly from Gaza, for extended periods. Many of them are still missing at the time of publication.’
Moreover, the report found that the number of Palestinians classified as ‘security prisoners’ before 7 October 2023 was 5,192, with approximately 1,319 held without charge or trial as ‘administrative detainees.’ By early July 2024, this number had risen by over 85 per cent to 9,623, and the number of prisoners held without charge rose by almost 100 per cent to 4,781. These prisoners included minors subjected to the same conditions.
Palestinians are held in these prisons for lengthy periods, subjected to physical, s*xual and psychological abuse. They testified that Israeli authorities coerced them into confessing to crimes they did not commit, in a perpetual violation of their human rights and denial of basic needs and medical care. The report, which collected horrifying testimonies from 55 Palestinians incarcerated during the period since 7 October 2023, concludes that these prisons, ‘in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps.’
