RAMALLAH, June 26, 2026 (WAFA) – Palestinian prisoner institutions said today that thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected daily to acts of torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment inside Israeli prisons and military camps, which have become an organized system of starvation, humiliation, and dehumanization.
In a statement marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, observed on June 26 each year, the institutions said that torture crimes have affected all categories of prisoners, including children, women, the elderly, the wounded, and the sick, in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
They stressed that the scale of crimes committed since the start of the genocide has exceeded the traditional concept of torture in terms of its scope, brutality, and the variety of methods used.
They noted that hundreds of documented testimonies and statements confirm that torture is no longer individual violations but has become a systematic official policy implemented by various levels of the Israeli occupation system, including soldiers, prison guards, interrogators, prison administrations, and political leadership that has provided cover for the continuation of these crimes.
The institutions explained that torture begins from the moment of detention through physical assault, threats, enforced disappearance, and painful restraints, and continues inside prisons through various methods, including stress positions, electric shocks, burning, deprivation of sleep, food, water, and medical treatment, deliberate humiliation, as well as documented sexual violations and assaults.
They affirmed that imprisonment conditions, including starvation, denial of healthcare, and the spread of diseases, particularly scabies, have turned imprisonment into a continuous tool of torture aimed at physically and psychologically destroying detainees.
They added that testimonies from detainees from the Gaza Strip revealed severe violations inside Israeli military camps, including medical neglect, abuse, and other forms of mistreatment.
The prisoner institutions pointed out that United Nations reports and mechanisms during 2025 and 2026 confirmed a systematic pattern of torture and ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees.
They said UN bodies, including the Committee Against Torture, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, concluded that serious violations, including torture and sexual violence, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
They added that the continued denial of access to detainees by the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent international bodies, along with restrictions imposed on lawyers and human rights organizations, represents an attempt to conceal evidence and erase the traces of crimes.
They stressed that the absence of accountability and impunity have contributed to entrenching torture as part of the occupation authorities’ policy of repression and persecution against the Palestinian people.
The institutions renewed their call on the international community and the United Nations to take urgent action to activate universal jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli officials involved in torture crimes, ensure accountability, impose effective international sanctions, allow the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent international bodies immediate access to all detention facilities, provide international protection for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and guarantee victims’ rights to justice, remedy, and reparations.
They stressed that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm under international law and cannot be justified under any circumstances, including war, emergencies, or security considerations, calling for effective measures to prevent, investigate, and hold perpetrators accountable for this crime.
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