RAMALLAH, (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has raised alarm over the extreme and degrading conditions in the underground Rakevet Section of the Ramlah prison, where Palestinian detainees are reportedly held in total isolation and subjected to what rights groups describe as psychological torture.
According to the group, the Rakevet facility, constructed in September 2023 as a subterranean “concrete vault,” is being used to detain dozens of elite members of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades and Hezbollah’s Radwan Force. Conditions in this unit are said to be devoid of the most basic elements of human dignity and life.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that each cell in the Rakevet section is equipped with advanced surveillance cameras that monitor every movement of the detainees, leaving no room for privacy. The prisoners are kept inside their cells 24 hours a day, with the exception of a single hour in a fortified yard, a small underground room with concrete walls and minimal sunlight filtering through barred openings in the ceiling.
Amani Sarahna, spokeswoman for the PPS, told Anadolu Agency that the detainees are completely cut off from the outside world, including legal counsel, medical treatment, and court appearances. All procedures are conducted within the prison walls.
“Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, this has been the most difficult facility for our legal teams to access or monitor,” said Sarahna. “Communication during visits is severely restricted. Every word spoken by the lawyer or the detainee is closely monitored.”
Sarahna described how the facility’s atmosphere of fear is physically visible on the detainees’ faces. “One prisoner began crying when the lawyer told him that his family was alive, contrary to what he had been told by the jailers,” she said. “The guard immediately intervened to stop the conversation.”
During one visit, a detainee revealed that prisoners inside Rakevet have no way of knowing the time. “They do not know when the sun rises or sets,” said Sarahna. “Even the so-called outdoor time happens underground.”
She also confirmed media reports that the prison administration placed a large image of war-torn Gaza on the walls inside the facility, further intensifying the psychological pressure on the detainees.
Since October 7, 2023, when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched their genocidal war in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians have been detained, with many still unaccounted for. Human rights groups say dozens have died in Israeli custody due to torture, starvation, or denial of medical care.
According to Palestinian and international human rights reports, over 10,800 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons. Advocates accuse the IOF of escalating abuses against detainees in parallel with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, ignoring both global outcry and rulings by the International Court of Justice demanding an end to such violations.
