Reposted from Alquds.com, June 26, 2025
Prisoners’ institutions (the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association) said that the Israeli occupation authorities continue to escalate the use of systematic torture crimes against prisoners and detainees in prisons and camps, which have been transformed into torture arenas.
The institutions added in a joint statement, issued Thursday, on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, that the post-genocide period represented a turning point in assessing the scale of crimes committed by the occupation authorities and their various agencies, and the serious repercussions resulting from the widespread use of this crime, which led to the martyrdom of dozens of detainees and prisoners, making this the bloodiest period in the history of the prisoner movement.
The organizations noted that since the beginning of the war of extermination, the relevant institutions have obtained dozens of testimonies and reports that reflect the escalation of torture crimes, beginning with the moment of arrest, through the investigation phase, which is the most prominent stage in the commission of these crimes, and ending with the prisons where these practices continue through various policies and tools.
She explained that the policy of torture is no longer limited to the investigation phase for the purpose of extracting confessions, but rather the occupation has sought to “innovate” methods and tools that have contributed to entrenching this crime in the details of prisoners’ daily lives, and this has become more prominent in an unprecedented manner since the beginning of the genocide.
With the escalation of arrest campaigns and field investigations, which have targeted thousands of citizens, including women and children, torture has escalated in an unprecedented manner in terms of scale and intensity. The testimonies of detainees and released prisoners provide vivid evidence of these crimes, along with the psychological effects these policies have had on them.
Detainees’ testimonies revealed multiple methods of psychological and physical torture, beginning with the brutal moment of arrest and continuing with systematic intimidation, severe beatings, and painful restraints, which led to serious complications, including amputation of limbs for some detainees, particularly those from Gaza. These methods also include: stress positions, crucifixion, electrocution, dousing with scalding water, the use of corrosive chemicals, nail removal, prolonged interrogation accompanied by deprivation of sleep, food, water, and toilet facilities, the use of loud noises (such as disco music), the “diaper” policy, and soldiers urinating on food, water, and even on detainees themselves.
The humiliating and degrading conditions of detention also contributed to the entrenchment of torture crimes, including the escalation of sexual crimes after the genocide, and rape crimes, which resulted in serious injuries, including fractures, and denial of medical treatment. Institutions have documented dozens of cases, particularly since the beginning of the genocide. Prisons witnessed brutal repression in which the occupation forces used batons, electric shock devices, and police dogs, forcing prisoners to undress and assaulting them for hours in the prison yards.
The organizations addressed the photos and videos published by the occupation army since the beginning of the war of extermination, which document the torture of naked detainees, and show acts of physical and psychological humiliation and degradation. These include clips used by the fascist Minister Ben Gvir to boast about his crimes, and other leaked videos documenting the rape of a Gaza detainee in the Sde Teiman camp.
The testimonies of Gaza detainees, in particular, have been particularly notable for the atrocities they contain, particularly in the occupation army camps, which detainees described as “hell,” “slaughterhouses,” and “one of the gates of hell.” Prominent among these sites is the Sde Teiman camp, where dozens were martyred, and where amputations without anesthesia and rape crimes were documented. Other prisons include the Negev, Megiddo, Gilboa, Ofer, and Ofer camp, as well as detention centers and field camps in Gaza, which witnessed torture, field executions, and the use of detainees as human shields.
The organizations also documented the extent of psychological terror in places such as the “Rakefet” section of Ramleh Prison, where legal visits revealed the state of extreme fear and terror experienced by detainees, constituting a form of psychological torture.
The organizations noted that diseases and epidemics have become a systematic tool of torture, with detainees left without treatment. One example is scabies, which detainees suffer from around the clock, leading to severe pain and an inability to meet their needs.
The occupation also turned lawyer visits into a means of humiliation, assaulting prisoners during transfers and in areas without cameras.
In this context, the institutions emphasized that after the genocide, it is no longer possible to list all the torture methods that go beyond what is stipulated in international laws and conventions, as the methods are repeated and varied in each case, which necessitates reconsidering the definition of torture itself and confronting it as an ongoing crime. The institutions emphasize that these methods are not exceptional, but rather an extension of a long history of systematic crimes.
The prisoners’ institutions renewed their call for the international human rights system to restore its role, which has declined in the face of the ongoing genocide, and which has lost its ability to protect the humanitarian principles established by international conventions and agreements. Despite some UN reports documenting the occupation’s crimes, the lack of practical impact renders them worthless unless real steps are taken, including holding the occupation’s leaders accountable before international courts. The institutions affirm the importance of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the “illegality” of the Israeli occupation and call for building on it, particularly with regard to the issue of prisoners and detainees.
The number of prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons exceeds 10,400, including 47 female prisoners, more than 440 children, 3,562 administrative detainees, and 2,214 detainees from Gaza, whom the occupation classifies as “illegal combatants.” These figures do not include detainees in Israeli military camps, whose number is estimated in the hundreds.
Since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, 72 detainees have been martyred in occupation prisons and camps, and their identities have been announced. Meanwhile, dozens of detainees in Gaza remain subject to the crime of enforced disappearance.
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