Israel’s Systematic Crimes Against Palestinian Detainees

Sde Teiman Detention Center, near Be'er Sheva Israel, where many cases of rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners has been documented (Breaking the Silence) (Breaking the Silence)

Reposted from IMEMC News, October 07, 2025

Two years into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and its broader assault across Palestinian territories, prisoner advocacy institutions have released a detailed fact sheet exposing the scale of atrocities committed inside Israeli prisons and military detention camps.

The report, jointly issued by the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, and Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, documents how the machinery of genocide has extended into incarceration, where torture, starvation, and execution have become institutionalized.

Since October 2023, at least 77 Palestinian detainees have died in custody, most as a result of torture, medical neglect, and deliberate starvation. Dozens more, primarily from Gaza, remain forcibly disappeared. The report describes this period as the most violent in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement.

Drawing on hundreds of testimonies, forensic evidence, and public threats issued by Israeli officials—including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—the institutions assert that these acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. Among the documented violations:

Physical and psychological torture
Intentional starvation and denial of adequate nutrition
Medical abuse, including the spread of disease and the refusal of treatment
Sexual violence, including rape
Collective isolation and destruction of prison infrastructure
Use of disease as punishment, including deliberate scabies outbreaks
Solitary confinement, psychological terror, and threats of execution
Arbitrary detention and mass classification of Gaza detainees as “unlawful combatants”
Forced disappearances and field executions

The report also highlights the role of Israel’s judicial system—including its Supreme Court—in legitimizing these crimes, providing legal cover for mass incarceration and torture under the pretext of national security.

Gaza Detainees: Torture, Disappearance, and Execution

Testimonies from Gaza detainees reveal extreme brutality from the moment of capture through interrogation and prolonged detention. Survivors describe beatings, starvation, medical neglect, sexual abuse, and field executions. Of the 77 confirmed deaths in custody, at least 46 are from Gaza, with many more still unaccounted for.

Israel has established new detention sites for Gaza detainees, including the Sde Teiman military base and the underground Rakevet section of Ramla prison—both notorious for systematic torture and concealment.

Most detainees from Gaza are classified as “unlawful combatants,” a designation that strips them of legal protections and facilitates indefinite detention without trial.

Mass Abductions and Abuse Across the West Bank

Since the onset of the genocide, Israeli forces have carried out over 20,000 abductions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including 1,600 children and 595 women. These abductions have been accompanied by home invasions, beatings, hostage-taking, and widespread destruction—particularly in refugee camps such as Jenin and Tulkarem.

Field interrogations have become a widespread method of abuse, with thousands subjected to prolonged detention and torture outside formal prison facilities.

Record-Breaking Abductions And Imprisonment

The total number of Palestinian prisoners has surged to over 11,100 (currently imprisoned), the highest since the Second Intifada. This includes:

3,544 administrative detainees held without charge
3,380 pre-trial detainees
2,673 classified as “unlawful combatants,” including detainees from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria
1,460 sentenced prisoners, including 303 serving life terms
53 female prisoners, including three from Gaza and two girls
Over 400 child prisoners are held in Ofer and Megiddo prisons

Before the genocide, the prisoner population stood at 5,250. Since then, Israel has banned family visits and blocked access by the International Committee of the Red Cross

Targeting Journalists, Medical Workers, and Civil Society

The report documents the arrest of 202 journalists; most held under administrative detention or charged with “incitement”—a term used to criminalize free expression. Two journalists from Gaza, Nidal al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdul-Wahid, remain forcibly disappeared.

Israeli forces have also detained over 360 medical workers, including three doctors who died in custody due to torture: Iyad al-Rantisi, Adnan al-Barsh, and Ziad al-Dalu.

Criminalization of Human Rights Work

The report warns of escalating repression against Palestinian human rights organizations. Al-Dameer, Al-Haq, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and Al-Mezan have all faced sanctions and designation as “terrorist entities,” including by the United States.

All findings are based on legal visits, released prisoner testimonies, and daily documentation by field teams.

International Complicity and the Cost of Silence

The prisoner institutions renew their call for the international community to abandon its posture of paralysis and complicity. Two years into the genocide, global inaction has failed to produce any meaningful protection for Palestinian detainees.

The crimes committed defy description and form part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing and erasure.

What is being inflicted on prisoners is not separate from the genocide—it is its extension. Continued silence is a betrayal of humanity, and the consequences of this war will reach all who have used inaction as a shield from

Sexual Violence and Rape: Verified Crimes in Detention

The report documents systematic sexual violence against Palestinian detainees, including rape, as part of Israel’s broader torture regime.

According to verified investigations by UN human rights experts, detainees—both men and women—have been subjected to sexual assault, including gang rape, electrocution of genitals, and forced nudity under extreme conditions.

One of the most egregious cases occurred at the Sde Teiman detention facility, where video evidence confirmed the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner by Israeli soldiers.

The footage, verified by Al Jazeera, shows the victim being selected from a group of bound detainees and assaulted by guards using shields to conceal their identities.

Ten soldiers were arrested, though several were later released, and far-right Israeli officials publicly defended the attack as permissible under “state security.”

UN experts have condemned these acts as crimes against humanity, warning that the scale and impunity surrounding sexual violence in Israeli detention facilities reflect a deliberate policy of dehumanization and extermination.

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