Layan Bsharat and Rania Abushamala
02 August 2026•Update: 02 August 2026
Palestinian detainees face food and medical care shortages at Megiddo Prison in northern Israel as their living conditions continue to deteriorate, a Palestinian commission said Sunday.
The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a statement that its lawyer visited prisoners at the facility and documented conditions it described as “harsh.”
It highlighted the case of Mohammed Sawafta, 20, from the occupied West Bank province of Tubas, who has been detained since June 17, 2025.
According to the commission, Sawafta suffers from joint inflammation and viral infections affecting his stomach and eyes.
Although he received treatment for an eye infection, he still needs a walker, the statement added.
The commission said Palestinian detainees at the prison have lost weight because of insufficient food.
Prison authorities also move them while their hands are shackled, hindering their ability to sign documents or use a telephone during meetings with their lawyers, it said.
The detainees also lack cleaning supplies and have irregular access to shower water, which is available for about one hour a day, according to the statement.
The report added that detainees are allowed outside their cells for no more than one hour a day at irregular times
Palestinian prisoners’ organizations say detainees in Israeli prisons face starvation, medical neglect, assaults, isolation and shortages of hygiene supplies amid a widespread scabies outbreak.
More than 100 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody since Oct. 2023, with the identities of 91 of them announced as of the end of June 2026, according to the organizations.
Around 9,500 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including 94 women and more than 350 children, according to Palestinian and Israeli rights groups.
