Palestinian prisoners ‘electrocuted, starved, and beaten’ in Israeli jails: Detainees commission

RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL 

A Palestinian rights group on Friday accused Israeli prison authorities of systematically torturing detainees with electric shocks and other forms of abuse, warning of a growing pattern of physical and psychological cruelty.

The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said conditions in northern Israel’s Gilboa Prison have deteriorated significantly, with special units storming prisoner sections under the pretext of inspections.

During these raids, detainees are handcuffed, forcibly removed from their cells, and reportedly subjected to intense beatings and electric shocks, the commission said, citing testimony from a lawyer who recently visited the prison.

Prisoners are allegedly dragged across the wet floors of shower areas, where their soaked clothes and bodies are then targeted with stun guns to amplify the pain.

“The shocks are not only painful but calculated to break the prisoners,” the commission said. “Some have lost consciousness. Others bled from head wounds after being struck with the metal parts of the stun devices.”

The report also described scenes of humiliation, with Israeli guards allegedly laughing as bloodied detainees lay on the ground.

In addition to physical torture, the commission reported severe food deprivation, noting that prisoners are receiving minimal portions, leading to rapid weight loss.

In a separate statement, commission head Raed Abu al-Hummus raised alarm over worsening conditions in Ofer Prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He asserted that detainees are increasingly subjected to psychological pressure designed to undermine their morale and mental stability.

“The goal is clear: to wear them down emotionally, to push them into a state of psychological collapse,” he warned. “This is not isolated. It’s part of an intensifying Israeli policy inside prisons.”

Abu al-Hummus called on international human rights groups to break their silence and act before more harm is done, stressing that neutrality only enables further abuse.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, Israel has imprisoned over 10,800 Palestinians as of early August. This includes 49 women, 450 children, and 2,378 people labeled as "unlawful combatants." The figure excludes detainees held in Israeli military camps, as well as prisoners from Lebanon and Syria.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 1,013 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Health Ministry.

In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.