RAMALLAH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs Commission revealed that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are suffering from harsh conditions, diseases, and physical and psychological torture.
The Commission revealed in a statement on Tuesday that a number of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Ofer jail were brutally beaten and abused inside Section 25 last month.
During a visit to Ofer prisoners, the Commission’s lawyer stated that Israeli prison guards threw gas grenades inside Section 25, tied all prisoners to the floor backwards, beat them and undressed them while cursing and humiliating them.
The lawyer quoted testimonies of prisoners stating that scabies disease is spreading in the section without offering treatment, even though there are some difficult cases, noting that the prison administration is still preventing the provision of bedding, toothpaste or hygienic materials.
The Commission explained that prisoner Muhammad Rayan, 24, from the town of Beit Dukko in Jerusalem, complains of severe bone pain, as he had an accident three months before his arrest, which led to the loss of his right hand, and the loss of the fingers of his left hand.
The Commission indicated that he needs special care, painkillers and antibiotics, in addition to air heating because his hand is totally exposed and missing, noting that he suffers from severe weight loss as a result of the scarcity of food in quantity and quality. The prison administration is deliberately neglecting him, it added.
The prisoner Abdul Hafiz Ghazzawi, 25, from Qadoura camp in Ramallah, central West Bank, suffers from scabies and cannot sleep at night due to severe itching, and painful tracks and rash on his body, it said, stressing that the administration does not provide him with any treatment.
The Commission also revealed that prisoner Ahmed Siraj, 32, from Silwad, Ramallah, has been isolated from the world and prevented from visiting, noting that the visit by its lawyer was his first visit since his arrest.
Siraj was beaten, suppressed and insulted at the beginning of last month, leaving him suffering from heart problems and shortness of breath, as a result of fractures in his chest.
The Commission also said on Tuesday that prisoners in the Ramle Prison clinic are suffering from harsh conditions and illness, in addition to psychological torture.
In a separate statement, the Commission relayed the testimonies of some prisoners in the Ramle prison clinic, including prisoner Ibrahim Shalhoub, 28, from Tulkarem, who suffers from severe pain and extreme difficulty in speaking, as a result of being shot by 14 bullets in different areas of his body during his arrest on December 27, 2024.
It indicated that the prison administration deliberately practiced the worst methods of psychological torture against Shalhoub and has always threatened to kill him.
The Commission’s lawyers also cited the case of prisoner Muhammad Fayoumi, 32, from Qalqilya, who suffers from a hole in his bladder, and bullet wounds, as he was shot at his arrest, in his right hand and pelvis, which prevented him from being able to walk. His health has recently begun to improve, returning to walking gradually, the statement noted.
In its statement, the Commission also cited the case of prisoner Nasser Abed Rabbo, 58, from Sur Baher in Jerusalem, who was shot with rubber bullets from less than two-meters distance on March 4, in the Negev Prison, after he refused the deportation order issued against him.
It explained that Abed Rabbo was hit by rubber bullets in the instep of his foot, after which one of the prison guards deliberately stomped on his foot to inflict as much damage as possible, which deepened the wound and led to infections in it. He was then transferred to the Ramle Prison clinic, and he is now in good health, the statement added.
The Commission further explained that Abed Rabbo was a former prisoner who was arrested on 09/02/1988, and released in the Shalit prisoner swap deal in 2011, then he was re-arrested on 06/18/2014, and is expected to be released on 08/10/2025.
The latest statistics indicate that there are more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in 23 Israeli prisons and detention centers, including about 3,369 administrative detainees, and at least 365 minors held in Ofer, Megiddo and Damon prisons.
