RAMALLAH, 11 MAY 2026 (WAFA) - In a report issued Monday, the Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) revealed increasingly shocking and horrific testimonies from Palestinian political prisoners abducted from the occupied Gaza Strip, facing some of the most severe levels of crimes and abuse.
The report comes following a series of visits conducted in recent weeks by a group of PPS and Commission lawyers to several Gaza detainees in the Negev and Ramla prisons – Rakefet underground section in Ramla Prison (Ayalon) and Ramla prison clinic – where testimonies from Rakefet once again revealed the most dangerous levels of torture and abuse policies still imposed by the prison system against detainees.
The prison administration allocates this section for those classified as “unlawful combatants,” meaning administrative detainees, in addition to another section for detainees who are under trial proceedings.
The PPS and the Commission said that detainees in the “Rakefet” section confirmed being subjected to repressive measures, including daily beatings, systematic abuse, and the deliberate use of finger-breaking as a form of punishment and torture, particularly against detainees under trial proceedings.
They added that detainees are also subjected to prolonged shackling during “courtyard breaks,” during which they are forced to remain handcuffed and are prevented from raising their heads or speaking to one another.
They further stated that each cell accommodates four detainees, with three sleeping on iron beds while one is forced to sleep on the floor. Detainees are also prohibited from speaking inside the cells. Mattresses are removed daily from 4:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m., leaving them seated on iron bed frames for long hours.
Detainees are also subjected to insults, humiliation, and threats of beatings before visits, in an attempt to intimidate them and prevent them from speaking about prison conditions or their health and living circumstances.
In addition, detainees are deprived of the ability to perform prayers, basic hygiene conditions are absent, and medical care is systematically denied, along with the provision of toothpaste without toothbrushes and the allocation of only one roll of toilet paper for four detainees every two days.
Detainees have recounted harrowing details regarding the conditions of their detention and the methods of torture they were subjected to from the very first moment of their detention, stating they underwent military interrogation that included suspension from the ceiling and severe beatings over several consecutive days.
According to detainees’ testimonies, detainees in Israeli occupation prisons are subjected to various forms of torture and ill-treatment, including physical assault, prolonged blindfolding and restraint, deprivation of adequate food, and denial of bathing for long periods.
Detainees are also facing a deteriorating health situation due to the spread of scabies inside the prison, with many affected for months at varying degrees, all reporting severe itching. Several who had recovered have reportedly been re-infected amid continued deprivation of necessary medical treatment.
In addition, detainees continue to be subjected to a range of daily degrading measures, including being forced to kneel during headcounts and searches, as well as the deliberate and random firing of rubber-coated bullets inside the sections, with one detainee reporting being hit by three rubber bullets in his left foot.
The two institutions stressed that testimonies from Gaza detainees consistently reveal an unprecedented level of organized crimes committed by the Israeli prison system against them, including systematic torture, starvation, denial of medical treatment, and daily humiliation, forming part of a structural system of torture inside prisons, as another form of the crime of genocide.
They added that the continued detention of Gaza detainees under the classification of “unlawful combatants” has provided cover for the expansion of crimes of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and torture, away from any effective international oversight or accountability.
The two institutions renewed their call on the international human rights system and all supporters of the Palestinian cause to urgently intervene to stop the systematic crimes against detainees and the ongoing genocide against them, and to reveal the fate of Gaza detainees whose whereabouts continue to be concealed by the occupation.
T.R.
