RAMALLAH,(The Palestinian Information Center)The Asra Media Office (AMO) has accused Israel of deliberately using starvation as a weapon against Palestinian detainees since October 7, 2023, saying the policy has recently reached the level of famine in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
In a statement released on Sunday, the AMO said that Palestinian prisoners are provided only with meager amounts of extremely poor-quality food, leaving them malnourished and dangerously underweight. Some detainees have lost nearly half of their body weight due to weakened immunity and deteriorating health conditions.
According to testimonies, the food portions given to a cell of 12 prisoners would not suffice for even one person, placing lives at risk and causing the rapid spread of disease. This is compounded by the Israeli prison authorities’ denial of medical care and refusal to provide proper treatment.
The AMO added that almost all released prisoners are taken straight to hospitals before returning to their families because of severe weakness, visible emaciation, and extreme weight loss resulting from the ongoing starvation policy.
It stressed that the policy is not the result of rogue officers or low-level decisions but comes directly from senior officials in the far-right Israeli government, including ministers who openly call for harsher prison conditions. They regard food given to Palestinian detainees as a “luxury” that must be curtailed.
The AMO warned that systematic starvation poses a lethal threat to prisoners, stripping their bodies of the strength needed to resist disease, especially in prisons lacking minimum standards of hygiene and healthcare. Such conditions, it said, create a breeding ground for epidemics and chronic illnesses.
It further noted that the starvation policy has indirectly caused the death of several prisoners in recent months, as malnutrition accelerated the spread of illness and led to their martyrdom.
Highlighting one case, the Asra Media Office recalled the martyrdom of 17-year-old prisoner Walid Ahmad from Silwad near Ramallah, who died in Megiddo prison in March. An autopsy confirmed that systematic starvation and food deprivation were the main causes of his deteriorating health and eventual death.
