RAMALLAH, January 26, 2026 (WAFA) – The Israeli prison facilities are transformed into a network of camps dedicated to inmates’ abuse, according to the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Tselem).
In a report issued in January 2026 and titled Living Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps, B'Tselem revealed that Israeli prison and detention facilities “were transformed into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as policy. A space of this kind, in which anyone who enters is condemned to deliberate, severe, and unrelenting pain and suffering, functions de facto as a torture camp.”
B'Tselem said that based on its ongoing monitoring and documentation, from the beginning of the October 2023 war to the beginning of January 2026, 84 Palestinian prisoners and detainees (including one minor) whose identities are known died in Israeli prisons or detention facilities. Human rights organizations and other media outlets have reported an even higher number -at least 94 deaths, including some whose identities are unknown. As of August 2025, at least six Palestinians had died during ISA (Shin Bet) interrogations.”
Citing the quarterly detainees’ report published by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), B'Tselem said that 10,863 Palestinian detainees were held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, including 7,425 residents of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, 2,931 residents of the Gaza Strip, and 507 Palestinian citizens of Israel. Among the 10,863 detainees, there are 3,521 Palestinians classified as administrative detainees (imprisoned without trial and without the opportunity to mount defense against allegations), 2,623 Palestinians defined as “unlawful combatants” (Palestinians held from Gaza without trials), 3,227 Palstinians defined as “security detainees” (Palestinians against whom legal proceedings are underway but have not been yet sentenced), and 1,492 Palestinians defined as “security convicts” (Palestinians serving prison sentences handed down by a court). According to the same report, 350 of the Palestinian inmates are minors and 48 are women.
The human rights center also revealed that Palestinian detainees and prisoners “continue to be subjected to frequent, institutionalized, organized violence and abuse, including electric shocks, use of tear gas and stun grenades, burning by extinguishing cigarettes on their bodies or pouring boiling liquids on them, firing of rubber-coated metal bullets, beating with batons and setting dogs on them.”
Highlighting forms of sexual violence inflicted on Palestinian inmates, B'Tselem said that such forms of violence “range from threats of sexual assault, through forced stripping, to actual sexual assaults. These include beatings to the genitals that caused severe injuries, setting dogs on prisoners, and forced anal penetration with various objects.”
It added that “denial of medical treatment continues to serve as a method of torture in itself, leading to irreversible harm that ranges from limb amputations to loss of hearing and eyesight, and even cases of death. The skin disease scabies is particularly rampant, as it is not adequately treated and continues to spread throughout the facilities.”
Highlighting the denial of medical treatment as a method of torture, the human rights center said that “according to the findings from 10 autopsies performed on Palestinians who died in IPS custody since 7 October 2023, denial of medical treatment was documented in six of 10 cases.”
Describing the living conditions of Palestinian inmates as “inhuman”, the center said that such conditions include “extreme overcrowding, prolonged shackling and denial of contact with the outside world, as well as deliberate starvation, poor-quality food and then denial of basic hygiene such as showers, clean clothes and clean drinking water.”.
Elaborating on the denial of contact with the outside world, the center said that “since October 2023, family visits have been completely suspended, and access has been denied to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.” It added that “Prison authorities place obstacles before Palestinian prisoners wishing to meet their lawyers, including systematic allegations of supposed ‘security suspicions’ against attorneys to justify denying them entry and even banning them from prisons for extended periods.”
“All the findings taken together lead to an unequivocal conclusion: Israel is continuing its systemic, institutionalized policy of torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners, approved and backed by the political system, the judicial system, the media, and of course, the prison authorities themselves, which openly boast about the torturous conditions in which Palestinian inmates are held.”
K.F.
