RAMALLAH, January 14, 2026 (WAFA) – The head of the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) , Abdullah al-Zaghari, stated that the Israeli occupation authorities' decision to renew the state of emergency in prisons constitutes official cover for the continuation of the systematic extermination of Palestinian detainees.

This is achieved by entrenching a system of policies and practices aimed at their slow and deliberate killing, and by keeping prisons open arenas for torture, starvation, medical negligence, deprivation, and the grave and systematic violation of human dignity.

In a statement issued by the PPS on Wednesday, al-Zaghari added that this decision signifies an expansion of the killing of detainees within prisons, given the structural and systematic failure of the international human rights system to fulfill its legal obligations and its inability to take deterrent measures that would compel the occupying power to cease its policies of brutality and collective punishment, including the serious crimes committed against detainees.

He noted that the period following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, according to dozens of field visits conducted by legal teams and documented testimonies from released prisoners, witnessed an unprecedented escalation in repression and the use of prohibited weapons to torture prisoners, including electric shock devices.

Furthermore, the continued policies of deprivation and denial, coupled with severe overcrowding in cells—reaching 91% according to the occupation authorities themselves—led to a widespread outbreak of scabies, infecting thousands of prisoners and causing the deaths of several.

K.T