Welcome to Hell

The Israeli Prison System as a Network

of Torture Camps

August 2024

1
We were taken to Megiddo. When we got off the bus,
a soldier said to us: "Welcome to hell."

From the testimony of Fouad Hassan

45, a father of five and resident of Qusrah in Nablus District, who was held in Megiddo Prison

Cover photo: Used under Section 27(a) of the Copyright Law.

In compliance with the Israeli law that seeks to equate the receipt of international funding with
disloyalty, please note that last year, more than 50% of B’Tselem’s funding came from foreign state
entities. These are listed on the website of the Israeli Registrar of Associations (and elsewhere). Be
that as it may, we remain loyal to dismantling the apartheid and occupation regime and to protecting
human rights.
 Welcome to Hell

The Israeli Prison System as a Network

of Torture Camps

August 2024

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 Welcome to Hell

Index

Introduction 5

1. Background and methodology 13

2. The normative framework 17

3. Prison protocols 21

A. Overpopulation and crowding in cells 26

B. No sunlight and no air to breathe 28

C. Roll call and cell searches 29

D. Denying access to and contact with the outside world 31

E. Restrictions on religious worship 39

F. Confiscation of personal possessions 41

G. Living in darkness 42

4. Physical and psychological abuse 44

A. Physical violence and intimidation 47

B. Sleep deprivation 53

C. Violence during transfers and travel 55

D. Sexual violence 58

5. Deprivation of adequate living conditions 62

A. Absence and denial of medical treatment 65

B. Food deprivation and starvation 73

C. Hygiene, cutting off the water supply and cold 78

6. Keter – the Israel Prison Service Initial Reaction Force (IRF) 82

7. Deaths behind bars 89

8. Palestinian prisoners with Israeli citizenship 100

9. Conclusion 112

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 Welcome to Hell

I n t rod uc t ion

Since the horrific Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, we have
been hearing every day of more and more crimes and atrocities that would have
been unthinkable in the not-too-distant past. Tens of thousands of civilians killed,
entire neighborhoods obliterated, over a million people turned refugees in one fell
swoop, civilians taken hostage and held as bargaining chips. In the West Bank, settler
violence is surging, a massive expulsion of Palestinian communities is underway,
and violence by Israeli armed forces is rampant. Countless human-made disasters
that the mind cannot countenance and the heart cannot contain. Amid this tragic
reality, state mechanisms are undergoing terrifying systemic changes, in a cynical
exploitation of the loss, fear and vengefulness sweeping the country.

This report concerns the treatment of Palestinian prisoners1 and the inhuman
conditions they have been subjected to in Israeli prisons since 7 October.
B’Tselem collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons
and detention facilities during this time. Thirty of the witnesses are residents
of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; 21 are residents of the Gaza Strip;
and four are Israeli citizens. They spoke with B’Tselem after they were released
from detention, the overwhelming majority of them without being tried. Their
testimonies uncover a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual
abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners. This includes frequent acts of
severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate
starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation; prohibition on,
and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal
and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment. These
descriptions appear time and again in the testimonies, in horrifying detail and
with chilling similarities. The prisoners’ testimonies lay bare the outcomes of a
rushed process in which more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, both military
and civilian, were converted into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse
of inmates. Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to
severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps.

1 In this report, the terms "Palestinian inmates" and "Palestinian prisoners" refer to Palestinian detainees, con-
victed prisoners and administrative detainees classified as "security prisoners" by the state.

5
 Introduction Welcome to Hell

Over the years, Israel has incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Palestinians

in prisons, which have always served, above all, as a tool for oppressing and
dominating the Palestinian population. The stories presented in this report are
the story of thousands of Palestinians, residents of the Occupied Territories and
citizens of Israel, who have been arrested since the beginning of the war, as well as
Palestinians already in prison on 7 October, who experienced the massive increase
in hostility from prison authorities since that day.

Just before the war started, the overall number of Palestinians incarcerated by
Israel and classified as "security prisoners" was 5,192, with about 1,319 held without
trial as "administrative detainees." In early July 2024, there were 9,623 Palestinians
incarcerated in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, 4,781 of whom were detained
without trial, without being presented with the allegations against them, and
without access to the right to defend themselves.2 In the months since the war
started, thousands more Palestinians have been arrested, held for varying periods
of time, and released without charges.

The circumstances and pretexts for arrest varied. Among the prisoners, both male
and female, are physicians, academics, lawyers, students, children and political
leaders. Some were jailed simply for expressing sympathy for the suffering of
Palestinians. Others were taken into custody during military activity in the Gaza
Strip, on the sole grounds that they came under the vague definition of "men
of fighting age." Some were imprisoned over suspicions, substantiated or not,
that they were operatives or supporters of armed Palestinian organizations.
The prisoners form a wide spectrum of people from different areas, with varying
political opinions. The only thing they have in common is being Palestinian. These
people found themselves on their way to detention, handcuffed and blindfolded,
for an unknown period of time.

The reality described in the prisoners’ testimonies can only be explained as the
outcome of the ongoing dehumanization of the Palestinian collective in Israeli
public perception. This process, underway with varying intensity since the Nakba

2 See here, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual website. Among the 4,781 prisoners held with-
out trial, 3,379 are defined as "administrative detainees," and 1,402 are defined as "illegal combatants."

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 Welcome to Hell

and the establishment of the State of Israel, has become so firmly entrenched
since the war that it is now prevalent and accepted in Israeli public discourse. Calls
by public figures and politicians for genocide and mass expulsion of Palestinians
have become commonplace.3 The Israeli media reverberates and normalizes this
incendiary speech, and barely reports on Palestinian victims, while a large majority
of Jewish Israelis display indifference to the killing of tens of thousands of civilians
in the Gaza Strip and hundreds in the West Bank. In this social climate, the abuse
of Palestinian prisoners is tolerated and even welcomed.

Systemic change: an organized plan

The abuse consistently describe in the testimonies of dozens of people held

in different detention facilities is so systemic, that there is no room to doubt
an organized, declared policy of the Israeli prison authorities.4 This policy is
implemented under the direction of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir,
whose office oversees the Israel Prison Service (IPS), with the full support of the
Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Collective abuse by
dozens of guards, carried out openly for months across prison facilities, could not
have occurred without support and encouragement from above. Delivering on
his political credo, Minister Ben Gvir has openly steered a policy of humiliating
Palestinian prisoners and trampling their basic rights underfoot from the moment
he took office, long before the war, using legislative changes, political appointments5
and public statements designed to drive home the ministry’s new tone.

The first inklings of this shift were a series of political moves to downgrade
conditions for Palestinian prisoners over the past few years. Specifically, several
decisions by the Israeli government, including/and especially Minister Ben Gvir,
months before the war marked a significant policy change. Among other things, Ben

3 See coverage of the topic on the 7th Eye website (Hebrew).

4 A Channel 14 televised report (Hebrew) that aired on 1 February 2024, shows a tour of Ketziot Prison, during
which Prison Commander Brigadier General Yosef Knipes was interviewed. The story described the harsh con-
ditions in which Hamas operatives are incarcerated as a result of Minister of Public Security Itamar Ben Gvir’s
policies. See also, a story (Hebrew) in the ultra-Orthodox newspaper "Mishpacha," which contains impressions
from a visit to Katziot prison after October 7. The reporter notes he joined an IRF unit for one of four daily counts.

5 About Ben Gvir’s decision to terminate IPS Commissioner Katy Perry and appoint Lieutenant General Koby
Yaakobi, see here.

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 Introduction Welcome to Hell

Gvir issued directives to limit family visits6 and cancel the option of early release.7
Some of the changes he instated clearly have no other purpose but to torment
Palestinian prisoners. They include reducing the time allocated for showers,8 and
canceling prisoners’ ability to prepare their own food and buy from the canteen.9

The heinous attack by Hamas and other armed Palestinian organizations on

7 October, and the widespread targeting of civilians – about 800 of the 1,200
Israelis killed that day were civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage,
some still being held in Gaza – deeply traumatized Israeli society, evoking deep-
seated fears and an instinct for revenge among many. For the government and
the National Security Minister, this provided an opportunity to press harder with
applying their racist ideology, using the oppressive mechanisms at their disposal.
In record speed, the IPS molded itself in Minister Ben Gvir’s image. For example,
the Negev (Ketziot) Prison Commander Brigadier General Yosef Knipes proudly
described the conditions in which prisoners are kept at his facility:10 "Most of the
day they are actually inside the cells, 23 out of 24 hours, except for those who
are in the tents [...] There are between 10 and 12 terrorists in each cell. The cells
are currently crowded because we are in an emergency situation. They have a
mattress and a blanket, with the minimum conditions required by law." Knipes
clarified that "as far as we are concerned, they are all terrorists. We’ve reduced
the conditions to a minimum." Koby Yaakobi, a close associate of Minister Ben
Gvir appointed by him as IPS Commissioner in the height of the war, declared his
intent to "revolutionize" the IPS in keeping with the minister’s policies as soon as
he took office, naming the downgrading of prison conditions a top priority.11

6 On the security implications of Minister Ben Gvir’s policy, see ynet (Hebrew); for an English language story
about the family visit restrictions, see Haaretz.

7 On the decision and its implications for prison overcrowding, see Israel Hayom; for an English language story
about early release, see Haaretz.

8 On the decision as part of Minister Ben Gvir’s overall policy of downgrading Palestinians’ incarceration con-
ditions, see ynet.

9 On the decision as part of Minister Ben Gvir’s overall policy of downgrading Palestinians’ incarceration con-
ditions, see ynet. For an English language story about pita bread baking, see Jerusalem Post.

10 See interview on Walla website (Hebrew) with Negev (Ketziot) Prison Commander Brigadier General Yosef
Knipes. Some of these statements are also printed in a Jerusalem Post story.

11 See a ynet (Hebrew) report regarding a letter sent by Lieutenant General Koby Yaakobi to the senior IPS
command upon taking office. For an English language story, see Haaretz.

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 Welcome to Hell

A clear indicator of the severity of the situation and the moral degradation of
the Israeli prison system can be seen in the number of Palestinian prisoners who
have died in Israeli custody since the war started – no less than 60. Forty-eight
of them were from the Gaza Strip. Some of these perished in the new military
detention camps, and others died on their way there, likely due to extreme
violence at the hands of soldiers transporting them from the Gaza Strip to Israel.12
B’Tselem is aware of another 12 Palestinians who died in IPS custody. In some
cases, the circumstances strongly suggest abuse and deliberate withholding of
medical attention.

Israel’s mass incarceration of Palestinians since 7 October, their systematic abuse,

the inhuman conditions to which they are subjected, including the widespread,
systematic and prolonged commission of the crime of torture, are a gross violation
of multiple norms and obligations under Israeli law, international human rights law,
the rules of war and international humanitarian law. Equally important, Israel’s
actions have trampled basic morality underfoot, along with the most protected
human rights of those held in state custody.

In the face of all this, the legal gatekeepers, such as the High Court of Justice and
the State Attorney’s Office, ostensibly entrusted with upholding the rule of law
and protecting human rights, have bowed their heads in submission to Ben Gvir’s
agenda, allowing abuse and dehumanization to become the governing logic of
the prison system.

The result is a system specializing in torture and abuse where, at any given moment,
many thousands of Palestinians are held behind bars, most without trial, and all in
inhuman conditions.

12 Haaretz: Israeli Army Conducting Criminal Investigation Into 48 Deaths of Gazans During War, Mostly Detainees.

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 Introduction Welcome to Hell

The Israeli apartheid regime’s incarceration project

The story of Israel’s incarceration project did not begin on 7 October, nor with
Itamar Ben Gvir’s appointment as minister. Its roots run much deeper. The current
situation, horrifying as it is, cannot be fully understood without examining the
key role of this project in the social and political oppression of the Palestinian
collective over the years.

The prison system is one of the most violent and oppressive state mechanisms
that the Israeli regime uses to uphold Jewish supremacy between the Jordan
River and the Mediterranean Sea. Israel has incarcerated hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians from all walks of life over decades, as a way of undermining and
unraveling the social and political fabric of the Palestinian population. The scale
of the project speaks for itself: according to various estimates, since 1967, Israel
has imprisoned over 800,000 Palestinian men and women from the West Bank
(including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which accounts for about 20% of
the total population and about 40% of all Palestinian men.13

The cycle of suffering and the mental effects of imprisonment are not limited to
the prisoners themselves. They are felt by relatives, friends, acquaintances and the
entire community. It is no coincidence that Israeli prisons have become central to
the Palestinian experience and national ethos. The scale of Israel’s incarceration
project means there are hardly any Palestinian families without a family member
who has been through the Israeli prison system: children whose parent was
sent to prison; women and men who had to raise their children alone; parents
whose children were taken from them, sometimes for years; families who had to
spend a great deal of money, even go into debt, to pay legal fees; students whose
classmates suddenly disappeared with no explanation. A host of family and social
relationships is violently disrupted when a person is put behind bars.

Moreover, as Palestinians in the Occupied Territories depend on Israel for work,

the fact the former inmates are denied permits to work in Israel has financial
implications for families extending far beyond the actual prison time. There are
other long-term effects, as prisoners often struggle to reintegrate into civilian life
and pick up where they left off, whether they are teens who drop out of school or
adults who have trouble resuming work and parental roles.

13 See: Ben-Natan, "The Boundaries of the Carceral State: Accounting for the Role of Military Incarceration".

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 Welcome to Hell

The upheaval families go through is exacerbated by uncertainty over the fate of

their loved ones within prison walls. Over the past few months, during the war,
Israel has disappeared thousands of Palestinians, mostly from Gaza, for extended
periods of time. Many of them are still missing at the time of publication. This
practice, of enforced disappearance, has been employed in the past, but has
become prevalent in recent months. The testimonies we collected describe how
prisoners seem to vanish off the face of the earth once taken into custody. Their
families have no way of finding out where they are or what state of health they
are in, and they certainly cannot see them as family visits have been banned in all
prisons. Exposed to the harrowing accounts of released prisoners, the families live
in constant uncertainty and fear for their loved ones.

The mass incarceration project plays a key role in the system of control and
repression that the Israeli apartheid regime inflicts on its Palestinian subjects. The
sheer scale evinces that one goal, as with many other Israeli practices towards
Palestinians, is to "burn a message into Palestinians’ consciousness," and unravel
the fabric of their community. The constant threat of arrest and imprisonment,
with the attendant implications, are meant to deter Palestinians from taking part
in any political action or political discourse about their lives and futures under
Israeli rule; they are meant to clarify that any attempt, however inconsequential,
to resist Israeli repression and apartheid might be met with detention without
trial, violence and even torture.

The dehumanization of Palestinian prisoners begins the moment they are arrested,
as their individual identity is erased and they are treated as a homogenous, faceless
mass – whether the prisoner is a veteran doctor from Gaza, a teen from East
Jerusalem, a student from Haifa or a military wing operative of an armed group.
All are deemed "human animals" and "terrorists" simply because they are behind
bars, whether their detention was justified or arbitrary, lawful or not. This is how
abuse, degradation, and the violation of rights becomes permissible. Arbitrary and
extreme violence, withholding medical care from the injured or ill, denying food
and water in overcrowded cells – none of these would have been possible if the
guards saw Palestinians as human.

The logic at the base of the incarceration project is the same followed by the
Israeli apartheid regime elsewhere. The differentiation between Palestinian
prisoners from Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, and the varying laws and practices
applied to them interchangeably, demonstrate how the Israeli regime tears apart

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 Introduction Welcome to Hell

and reconstructs the Palestinian collective to fit its needs. Likewise, the arbitrary
violence, unleashed without rhyme or reason, and the anxiety that the guards
instill in prisoners are essentially similar to the routine violence applied against
Palestinians to uphold the regime of occupation and apartheid. The guards’
systematic violation of Israel’s own laws resembles the constant violation of rules
and regulations by Israeli soldiers and police officers in the Occupied Territories,
or when engaging with Palestinian citizens of Israel. This also holds true for the
obligations, albeit partial, that Israel has undertaken to fulfill as the occupying
power, but never does in practice.

The incarceration project is one of the most extreme, violent manifestations of

Israel’s system of control over Palestinians. The testimonies given to B’Tselem for
this report by released prisoners depict a wide variety of tools for control and
oppression. Their value goes beyond providing an account of the appalling reality
inside Israeli prisons and detention centers since October 7. They are a window
into a much broader reality.

Given the political function of Israel’s prison system in a reality of accelerated

dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli discourse, a radically right-wing
government, a weak judicial system swept up in public sentiment and a minister
who takes pride in violating human rights – this system has become an instrument
for the widespread, systematic and arbitrary oppression of Palestinians through
torture.

The testimonies presented here tell the story of how Israel’s prison system turned
into a network of torture camps.

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 Welcome to Hell

1.
Background & Methodology

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 Welcome to Hell

1 . B a ckg roun d an d Met hodology

In the early days after 7 October, Israel unlawfully arrested thousands of

Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip who were inside its territory with official
work permits.14 Hundreds of detainees were taken to an unknown location, with
no notification of their arrest or whereabouts given to their families or anyone
else representing them to this day. Some of these detainees are still in Israeli
custody. All attempts made by families, lawyers and human rights organizations
to find out who has been arrested and where they are being held have been
rejected outright. Several petitions filed seeking this information have also been
dismissed, with the Supreme Court accepting the state’s position that it had no
obligation to provide it.15

Disappearing and incarcerating Gaza residents were a precursor to a string of

measures and practices, including abuse and torture, that have been systematically
and consistently targeted at all Palestinian detainees and prisoners since the
beginning of the war, whether they are from the West Bank (including East
Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip or are Palestinian citizens of Israel. The testimonies
presented below describe the new, pernicious reality of prison life Israel has
created for Palestinian prisoners in its custody – designed to fit the openly
espoused principles of Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.16 The
policy includes, among others: unrelenting physical and psychological violence,
denial of medical treatment, starvation, withholding of water, sleep deprivation,

14 According to an Israel Prison Service (IPS) report, as of the morning of 20 June 2024, the total prison pop-
ulation (criminal and "security" inmates) was 21,801 – an increase of over 5,440 inmates since the war began
(the total prison population before the war was 16,353). See: Special Report of the Public Defender’s Office on
Conditions of Incarceration in the Prison Service Facilities (Hebrew). According to HaMoked: Center for the
Defence of the Individual figures, as of July 2024, approximately 10,000 detainees, prisoners and administrative
detainees defined as "security inmates" are incarcerated in various prison facilities in Israel, see here.

15 See, e.g. HCJ 7439/23 al-Wahad et al. v. Israel Defense Forces (dated 31 October 2023); HCJ 7637/23 Qishtah
et al. v. Israel Defense Forces et al. (dated 6 November 2023); HCJ 7946/23 Abu ‘Abed and 567 others v. Israel
Defense Forces et al. (dated 13 November 2023); HCJ 9021/23 Wadi and 61 others v. Israel Defense Forces
(dated 18 February 2024).

16 See requests from the Attorney General to the Ministry of Public Security for clarifications about prison
conditions for "security" inmates: Noa Shpigel, Israeli Gov’t Approves Temporary Plan to Address Overcrowd-
ing of Palestinian Prisoners, Haaretz English Edition, 18 October 2023; Attorney General’s Demand Regarding
the Conditions of Terrorists in Prison – and Ben-Gvir’s Response, Maariv Online, 11 April 2024 (Hebrew); Yaki
Adamker and Shlomi Heller, Attorney General Requests Clarifications on the Conditions of Terrorists in Israeli
Prisons, Walla, 11 April 2024 (Hebrew). Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir responded on his Twitter
account, for example here (Hebrew).

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 Background and methodology Welcome to Hell

confiscation of all personal belongings and more. The overall picture indicates
abuse and torture carried out under orders, in utter defiance of Israel’s obligations
both under domestic law and under international law, as detailed below.

The next phase was sealing off prisons to external oversight by denying meetings
with legal counsel and family visits, and refusing access to monitoring and
oversight bodies.17 Holding thousands of detainees without judicial review for
weeks, sometimes months, denying family visits and prohibiting the entry of
ICRC and human rights organization representatives were made possible thanks
to emergency regulations and temporary orders enacted under the pretext of
"dynamic needs," allegedly arising from the ongoing war.18 However, in practice,
these measures are aimed at completely isolating prisons from the outside world,
in itself a violation of the inmates’ human rights and of Israel’s obligations under
international law, and to prevent even minimal oversight of what happens inside
the prison system.

The transition from what appears to have initially been spontaneous acts of
vengeance to a permanent, systematic regime stripping away all protections
designed to uphold and ensure the most basic rights of Palestinian prisoners did
not occur in a legal vacuum. It would not have been possible to begin with, were
it not for the government exploiting its powers to enact draconian, injurious
"emergency regulations" without having to go through the ordinary legislative
process, which is subject to some measure of control and oversight.

Put together, the testimonies presented below, each of which reflects a personal
trauma experienced by the witness, provide a detailed depiction of the current
harsh reality behind bars in Israeli prisons. They serve as a serious indictment
against everyone involved – from the IPS (Israel Prison Service) Commissioner
and its legal advisor, through the State Attorney’s Office and the MAG (Military
Advocate General’s) Corps, all the way to the Supreme Court. These testimonies

17 The first Public Defender’s report on IPS prisoners and prison conditions came out four months into the war,
on 6 February 2024; see Public Defender’s Office website (Hebrew). Per Minister of National Security Ben Gvir’s
policy, ICRC visits have been banned as well. See here (Hebrew).

18 Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law Amendment No. 4 and Temporary Order – Swords of Iron,
5783-2023, Book of Laws 3203 p. 780 (hereinafter: the Temporary Order). Under the Temporary Order, the
times allotted for temporary confinement, being held prior to judicial review, and denial of meeting with legal
counsel have been extended from time to time, and the judicial review process has been changed. A petition
on this matter is pending before the High Court of Justice: HCJ 1414/24 The Public Committee Against Torture
in Israel et al. v. Knesset of Israel et al. (hereinafter: the judicial review petition).

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 Welcome to Hell

offer a detailed, consistent description of the developing "emergency" response

which has made the "exception" the single organizing principle for prison spaces,
turning them into a "normative black hole" where "Palestinians have no rights or
protections."19 Inside prison walls, these inmates are ever vulnerable to the violent,
coercive and arbitrary force of the regime, stripped of their humanity, isolated and
abandoned to their fate.20

This report is based on interviews B’Tselem conducted with 55 prisoners, as well

as relatives of individuals who are still incarcerated.21 All the witnesses – women
and men, whether older or younger, from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and
the State of Israel – were released from prison after October 7. They were held
in various military and civilian prison facilities in Israel and the West Bank.22 The
testimonies were collected by B’Tselem field researchers, usually in person, or
over the phone in a handful of cases. All the testimonies were given in Arabic and
translated into Hebrew and then into English. The testimonies were verified and
cross-referenced against other testimonies and reliable reports. Some witnesses
wished to remain anonymous and their testimonies are being published without
identifying details, which B’Tselem retains. The quotes appearing here are taken
from some of the testimonies we collected as we prepared the report. In some
cases, they have been shortened for easier reading.

The full testimonies are available on the B’Tselem website.

19 HCJ 1892/14 Association for Civil Rights in Israel v. Minister of Public Security, paragraph 33 of the opinion
of Supreme Court Vice President Rubinstein (June 13, 2017).

20 During hearings in the judicial review petition (see supra note 18) held recently, the State was instructed to
respond to the Court’s request to establish a system for processing complaints by detainees regarding prison
conditions, given the long wait times for judicial review and a meeting with legal counsel currently stipulated
in the law. See: Bar Peleg, About 4,000 Gazans Were Arrested Since the Outbreak of the War, More Than 1,500
Were Released Due to Lack of Evidence, Haaretz, 27 May 2024 (Hebrew).

21 For the full testimonies, see the B’Tselem website

22 List of relevant prison facilities: Sde Teiman, Negev Prison (Ketziot), Megiddo, Gilboa, Etzion Camp, Nafha,
Kishon, Ramla, Ashkelon, Ofer, Damun, Ramon, Anatot, Be’er Sheva, Hasharon, Russian Compound.

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 Welcome to Hell

2.
The normative framework

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 Welcome to Hell

2.

T h e n ormat iv e f ramework

Israel’s obligations towards prisoners in general, and Palestinian prisoners in its

custody in particular, are enshrined in three main and concurrently applicable
branches of international law: international human rights law, relating to the
state’s obligations towards any person within its jurisdiction; international
humanitarian law, which sets out the state’s obligations towards residents of
the occupied territory; and finally, international criminal law (by virtue of which
the International Criminal Court in The Hague was established), which enshrines
the prohibition on torture and ill-treatment as a core principle. Violations of this
principle may amount to crimes against humanity when committed by either
individuals or the state.

These branches of international law include several conventions and UN resolutions

concerning prisoners’ human rights,23 which are designed to mitigate the severe
harm inherent to incarceration and to prohibit torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment.24

Another UN document, the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons
under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment,25 concerns the obligation to treat
prisoners humanely, stipulating, among other things, that all prisoners have the
right to receive visits from family members and communicate with them, the

23 See, e.g., European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 (ECHR), which enshrines prisoners’ rights and
from which the European Court of Human Rights draws its authority. The ECHR states that prisoners retain all
human rights not denied as a result of the incarceration itself. See also Benny Spanier, Israel (Issy) Doron and
Faina Milman-Sivan, "Discovering Europe: Israelis at the European Court of Human Rights," Alei Mishpat (Law
Pages) 12 (5785) (Hebrew).

24 See details below in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (CAT), which Israel signed in 1986 and ratified in 1991; According to the Rome Statute (1998),
which established the International Criminal Court in The Hague, torture is a crime against humanity and a war
crime; The principle underlying the Statute dates back to the English Bill of Rights of 1689, Bill of Rights 1688, 1
Will and Mar sess 2 c. 2 (Eng.); Art. 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, UN General
Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 217 A (III) (10 Dec 1948) 54; and in Art. 7 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights from 1966 (ICCPR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
UN General Assembly, Dec. 16.

25 The Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment was
adopted in 1988. The document is available here.

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 The normative framework Welcome to Hell

right to communicate with legal counsel and the right to file complaints with the
competent authorities concerning their treatment and incarceration conditions,
particularly torture and cruel or inhumane punishment. The document also
stipulates the state must ensure oversight of prison facilities by an appointed
external body. The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,
now known as the Mandela Rules,26 is another important UN document. The
rules listed in this document concern prison conditions, including the obligation
to maintain an adequate level of cleanliness and hygiene, comply with medical
standards, provide good quality food that meets prisoners’ nutritional needs, and
allow prisoners contact with the outside world. These rules are aimed at ensuring
that the penalty imposed on prisoners does not amount to cruel or degrading
punishment and that prison facilities come under regular, proper oversight.

Public international law extends special protections to residents of occupied

territory (protected persons) and seeks to ensure the well-being and security
of the local population.27 The Fourth Geneva Convention, which forms part of
this branch of law and has been ratified by the State of Israel, applies various
international norms to the conduct of the occupying power in relation to the
protected population.28 The Convention is part of customary international law and
therefore binds all countries regardless of whether they are signatories. According
to Israeli case law, norms that have reached customary status in international law
are considered part of domestic law, which Israeli judges must uphold, provided
they do not irreconcilably clash with explicit provisions of Israeli law.

The Convention sets out the rules, rights and obligations applicable to the occupier
when using its power to arrest and/or imprison protected persons.29 Article 119

26 The Rules were adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treat-
ment of Offenders in 1955 and approved in July 1957. The document is available here. In 2015, the title was
changed to The Nelson Mandela Rules (hereinafter: the Mandela Rules).

27 Iris Canor, "Israel and the Territories: On Private International Law, Public International Law, and What’s in
Between," Mishpat Umimshal (Law and Government) 8 (5768): 569.

28 Israel signed the Convention on 8 December 1949, ratified it on 6 July 1951 and published it in September 1965
– Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 75 U.N.T.S. 287 (1949).
See mainly Arts. 3, 27, 31 and 32 (hereinafter: Fourth Geneva Convention).

29 Art. 79 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which lays out the basic guiding principles for the conditions un-
der which a protected person may be arrested. See on this also Art. 41 of the Convention; HCJ 253/88 Ibrahim
Hamid Sajdeyyah et al v. Minister of Defense, 42(3) 801 (1988).

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 Welcome to Hell

of the Convention states that in no case should penalties be "inhuman, brutal

or dangerous for the health" of the detainee. It also sets out the occupying
country’s duty to humanely treat individuals held in custody as part of criminal
proceedings;30 prohibits torture and the infliction of suffering,31 and enshrines
the rights to receive medical attention,32 food, water,33 clothing and more.34 The
Convention also stipulates that protected persons will serve prison sentences in
the occupied territory and prohibits transferring them to the occupying country
for incarceration.35 Since the Convention lacks a similar provision with respect
to administrative detainees, the Supreme Court of Israel maintains they can be
held inside Israel. This controversial position is injurious to human rights given the
prohibition on the forcible transfer of protected persons.36

To remove any doubt, the standards set by these conventions are "customary
norms," which are binding even if not incorporated into domestic law. Inasmuch
as the norm stipulated in the Convention does not contradict a norm in domestic
law, the court is obligated to interpret domestic law as compatible with the
provisions of the Convention.37

30 Art. 37 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates as follows: "Protected persons who are confined pending
proceedings or serving a sentence involving loss of liberty, shall during their confinement be humanely treated."

31 Art. 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates a blanket prohibition on the use of torture against pro-
tected persons or any other intentional infliction of suffering.

32 Article 91 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, for instance, requires providing access to medical examinations.

33 Art. 89 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates an obligation to provide detainees with a sufficient
amount of water, as well as food "sufficient in quantity, quality and variety to keep internees in a good state of
health." Detainees are also entitled to receive the means necessary to prepare their own food.

34 Art. 90 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates the obligation to provide detainees with enough ap-
propriate clothing, including underwear.

35 With respect to protected persons incarcerated for criminal offenses, Art. 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
states: "Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall
serve their sentences therein." Smadar Ben-Natan, "The boundaries of the carceral state: Accounting for the role
of military incarceration," Theoretical Criminology, Vol. 28(1), (2024): 12-16; see also the communication to the ICC
raising the claim that the forcible transfer of detainees from the occupied territory to Israel is a war crime.

36 The ruling in HCJ 253/88 Sajdeyyah et al. v. Minister of Defense held that administrative detainees could
be held in Ketziot Prison. However, this is a controversial interpretation given the prohibition on deportation
and forcible transfer enshrined in Art. 49(1) of the Geneva Convention. On this and other issues related to the
incarceration of Palestinian prisoners on Israeli soil see, HCJ 2690/09 Yesh Din et al. v. Commander of the IDF
Forces in the West Bank et al., in which the Court held that where Israeli law contradicts international law,
the Court must follow Israeli law.

37 Binyamin Rubin, "The Adoption of International Conventions into Domestic Law," Mishpatim (Laws) 13 (5744)
(Hebrew); Yaffa Zilbershats, "The Assimilation of International Law into Israeli Law – The Law Present is the Law
Wanted," Mishpatim (Laws) 24 (5574) (Hebrew). The binding force of human rights law, including prisoners’
rights, stems from international conventions complemented and enhanced by customary international law. Cus-
tomary law is one of the main sources of international legal obligations, as stipulated in Art. 38 (1) (b)

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 Welcome to Hell

3.
Prison protocols

21
 Welcome to Hell

3.
P rison P rot oc ol

New policy — new reality

For Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, life took a complete turn on the very
morning of the 7 October attack. The change was felt in all prisons at the same
time and applied to all Palestinian prisoners – those incarcerated before the Hamas
attack and those arrested from that day forward, be they from the Gaza Strip, the
West Bank or Israel, and regardless of whether they were involved in the attack.
As soon as the war broke out, the IPS declared a new "lockdown" policy designed
to reduce the movement of Palestinian prisoners to a minimum and cut them off
from the outside world as much as possible.38

From 7 October 2023 to early July 2024, Israel arrested thousands of Palestinians in
the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and inside Israel. While just before the war, the total
number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons was 5,192, in July 2024 it had climbed to
9,623.39 Israeli prisons were overcrowded even before 7 October, with Palestinian
prisoners held in cramped conditions. The surge in the number of inmates made
matters worse, producing inhuman conditions in prison cells pushed beyond
capacity, where many prisoners were forced to sleep on the floor. "Routine life"
was abruptly disrupted, and minimal living conditions provided to the prisoners
until then were scaled back until they were effectively denied. The testimony
below reflects these drastic changes:

38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which interpreted this Article as follows: "It is of course
axiomatic that the material of customary international law is to be looked for primarily in the actual practice
and opinion juris of States Case Concerning Continental Shelf" (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya v. Malta, ICJ (27§ 30–29
p. 1985, Reports ICJ 1985, June 3, Jud(. For an exhaustive review on the subject see also: Leslie Sebba and Rache-
la Erel, "Freestyle Imprisonment: On the Implementation of International Human-Rights Norms in the Israeli
Prison System", Hukim (Laws) 10 (2017): 131-138 (Hebrew).

38 See Temporary Order – "Reduced Routine Operations During War," dated 16 October 2023 (extended
periodically since). Prison conditions, including movement of Palestinian detainees, were scaled back to a mini-
mum, such that prisoners are allowed out of their cells only for showering rather than throughout the day; they
have no access to the canteen; all personal belongings have been confiscated; access to radio and television
has been denied, and lights remain off through most of the day.

39 For details, see here.

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 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

Until the war, I was held in tents in the Negev Prison and the
conditions were reasonable. After the war broke out, I was
transferred with all the other inmates to
cells on 15 October 2023. That’s when our We’d never
ordeal began. […] That morning, as early experienced
as 6:00 A.M., we heard prisoners in other anything like
wings shouting and screaming. It sounded that before.
like they were being slaughtered! We’d Inmates on
never experienced anything like that before. our wing were
Inmates on our wing were crying in fear over crying in fear
what might happen to them. Some sat in the over what
corner of the tent, crying […] Three hours might happen
after the raid on the other wings began, the to them.
guards reached our wing and started clearing Some sat in
it out. They brought in reinforcements from the corner of
outside the prison who raided the wings with the tent,
firearms. Members of those units took us crying
out of the cells and beat us. They took away
all our belongings, including letters from my late mother and
documents and articles I was using to study for a master’s degree
in prison. They also poured out the food products we had: frying
oil, olive oil, spices.

[…] They crammed 11 of us in a cell meant for four. In it were only

mattresses and a blanket for each inmate. Four prisoners slept
on beds, and the other seven on the floor. There were none of
the things there used to be in other cells I was held in: hotplate,
sugar, tea, coffee, cigarettes, cleaning supplies and shampoo,
tissue paper, toothpaste, hot water. They closed the canteen so
we couldn’t buy anything anymore. They also closed the laundry
room and mess hall. We were left with absolutely nothing. After a
week, they brought us shampoo: half of a small cup for the whole
cell. We showered with one drop each.

The windows had no windowpanes. The prison administration

took them down, and it was impossible to close the window. It was
very cold. I’d never suffered from such cold before. I had frostbite

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 Welcome to Hell

on my fingers and toes. They were hard as rock, cracked and blue.
They’ve gotten a lot better since I was released.

[…] Roll call changed, too: We were forced We were

to kneel with our heads bowed down and forced to
our hands on our heads. Anyone who raised kneel with our
their head got beaten up. There were heads bowed
three counts a day. During morning and down and our
afternoon roll call, prisoners had to face hands on our
the wall, and during the evening one, We heads. Anyone
had to face the guards. Every roll call was who raised
an opportunity to abuse us. Every roll call, their head got
on top of the prison guards, about 30 IRF beaten up.
people would raid the cell.

[…] We were all in bad shape mentally and focused only on survival.
We all thought of only one thing – hoping to hear that the war
was over and there was a prisoner exchange deal. But we didn’t
get any information from the outside world, with no TV, radio or
other source of news. When we tried to ask the guards, they beat
us, humiliated us and abused us.

[…] I was released, but thousands of prisoners were left behind

and they are really suffering. This is the worst time in the
history of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The prisoners have no
rights. They’ve been stripped of everything, and left completely
vulnerable and isolated. Even family visits have been abolished
since the beginning of the war. Our isolation was complete.

From the testimony of Sami Khalili

41, a resident of Nablus who had been serving a prison sentence since 2003.
and was held in the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

The IPS held organized publicity tours to showcase the downgrading of prison
conditions and flaunt the dehumanizing treatment of Palestinian prisoners.40 As

40 A Channel 14 televised report about a tour of Ketziot Prison in February 2024 shows prison commander
Brigadier General Yosef Knipes pointing out the harsh prison conditions received by Hamas prisoners under
Ben Gvir’s tenure at the Ministry of National Security (hereinafter: Ketziot commander Knipes), available here
(Hebrew). A printed story in the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Mishpacha recounts impressions from a visit to
Ketziot Prison, quoting Knipes as saying: "We can categorically say that the new policy and the tone set from

24
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

testimonies and media reports indicate,41 visitors were sometimes allowed to

participate in the humiliation rampages that became an inherent element of the
newly developed regime:

During the visits, they explained the Ben Gvir was

suppression and torture methods being used there him-
against us. They brought them into the cells self. Those
and forced us to keep our heads down, so we humiliating
didn't actually see the visitors. Once they visits lasted
told us [Minister of National Security] Ben at least 40
Gvir was there himself. Those humiliating minutes each,
visits lasted at least 40 minutes each, and the and the whole
whole time we had to kneel. Sometimes the time we had
visitors took an active part in humiliating, to kneel.
swearing and shouting at us.

From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi

58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District.
who was held in the Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha, Ofer and Negev
(Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

From time to time, they brought Israeli visitors and Israeli

journalists and show them our situation and how we were being
mistreated. Sometimes, they’d bring some of the visitors into
the cells and tell us to kneel on the floor and bend over, in a very
difficult and humiliating position, until the end of the visit.
Sometimes they jeered and laughed at us.

From the testimony of Muhammad Srur

34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

the top are good for us – the executive authority. When government-level officials back decisions and give the
professionals in the field the powers needed to get the job done properly, it produces the desired outcomes...
And it can be said with certainty that the odds of any terrorist finishing their prison time and returning to
terrorist activity drops sharply. The most logical thing that could be is... that they’ll be afraid of it, that it’ll get
etched in their consciousness." Available here (February 2024) (Hebrew).

41 See: Moshe Nusbaum, The Song that the Nukhba Terrorists Hear in Prison Non-Stop – the National An-
them, Mako, 14 November 2023 (Hebrew); Alon Hakmon, As the Anthem Plays in the Background: Ben Gvir
visited the Facility Where the Nukhba terrorists are Kept, Maariv, 15 November 2023 (Hebrew).

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 Welcome to Hell

A. Overpopulation and crowding in cells

Under the rules of international law, including the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights of 1966 (ICCPR), and the Mandela Rules, minimum prison
conditions must meet various health standards, including a minimum floor space.42

Overcrowding was a well-known issue in the Israeli prison system long before
7 October, and has been deliberated by Israel’s High Court of Justice.43 In that
matter, the Supreme Court instructed the state to provide, within a set timeline,
minimal, adequate living spaces to persons held in state custody, as required by
the right to living in dignity. The state has yet to fully meet these requirements.44

Shortly after 7 October, and as a result of the wave of mass arrests carried out by
Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, prison authorities pushed cell occupancy
past capacity. Later, on 18 October, the minister in charge declared a "prison
state of emergency" as part of emergency legislation,45 which effectively allowed
the government to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling and not comply with
its instructions on minimum living spaces. This legislation produced a serious,
substantive violation of the most basic human rights of Palestinian prisoners, who
have been held for months in overcrowded, stifling conditions that have made
their living spaces unfit for human habitation.

42 The Mandela Rules expressly mention an obligation to provide adequate living space. Art. 10(1) of the ICCPR
also states: "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent
dignity of the human person." This provision has been interpreted by the UN Human Rights Committee, the body
in charge of applying the ICCPR, as obligatory (see on this, HCJ. 1892/14 Association for Civil Rights et al. v. The
Minister of Public Security et al., paras. 49-51). Furthermore, in international law, prison conditions, including
adequate living space, have been ruled to fall under the prohibition on cruel and inhuman punishment in Art. 7 of
the ICCPR and Art. 16 of the CAT, which was ratified by Israel (1991).

43 See HCJ 1892/14 Association for Civil Rights et al. v. Minister of Public Security et al. (hereinafter: over-
crowding case).

44 See the State’s latest response to the overcrowding case from December 2023, available here (Hebrew); see
media stories, as well (Hebrew).

45 On 18 October 2023, the Minister of National Security announced a "prison state of emergency," which has
since been extended every three months over the course of the war and into the present. "Security conditions in
Israel produced a need for additional prison spots, which precludes compliance with living space requirements
or the right to a bed. This means prison directors may lodge prisoners in conditions that deviate from these
requirements and have them sleep on a mattress (which must be double) rather than a bed". See Amendment
to the Prison Ordinance (No. 64 Temporary Order – Swords of Iron) (Prison Emergency) 5784-2023; on
the right to a bed, see, Sec. 9(b)(2) of the Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers – Arrests) 5756-1996.

26
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

The testimonies indicate cell occupancy more than doubled. Cells intended for six
prisoners held 12 to 14 prisoners at a time, with "excess" inmates forced to sleep on
the floor, sometimes with no mattress or blanket.

After 7 October 2023, […] the prison administration collectively

punished us on a regular basis. The first thing was increasing
the number of prisoners in each cell from six to 14. This meant
reduced privacy and a much longer wait to use the toilet in the
cell. In addition, the new detainees who came to the cell had to
sleep on the floor, because there were only three bunk beds.
From the testimony of S.B.
a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

They put us in detention cells. The cells were very

crowded. In a cell measuring 5x2.5 meters, which The cell
is enough for eight inmates at most, they put 12 had a
or 14 of us. A cell like that has three to five iron disgusting
beds. The rest of the detainees slept on the floor, toilet that
on very thin mattresses and without blankets. stank, with
The toilets were inside the cell, with a very smelly no door.
blanket instead of a door.

On 27 November 2023, I was transferred to the Negev Prison

(Ketziot), and there the real suffering began. […] They transferred
me to a cell with three bunk beds and one single bed, meaning
it was suited for seven inmates. They put 12 of us in that cell.
The overcrowding was worse than in the previous places, you
couldn’t take a single step. The cell had a disgusting toilet that
stank, with no door.
From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi
58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held in
the Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons
Full testimony

27
 Welcome to Hell

B. No sunlight and no air to breathe

The Mandela Rules, which, as noted, stipulate the minimum standard for the
treatment of prisoners, address living conditions and especially emphasize the
cubic content of air in the room, light and ventilation.46

Following the radical change in prison protocols, some inmates found themselves
locked in their cells throughout the entire day; others were allowed out for an
hour once every few days in order to shower. Prisoners described being denied
the right to access the yard – a vested and protected right of prisoners – for their
entire incarceration, which sometimes lasted six months or more.47 Some never
saw daylight during their time in prison, and others described the impact of being
locked in crowded cells on their health.

When we arrived [at the prison], they put me in cell All you
68 in wing 12. I think that wing is designated for dream
Hamas prisoners. The cells were dilapidated and it of in
looked like we were the first ones to be put in them. there is a
It smelled damp and there was mold on the walls. breath of
It was impossible to breathe inside. All you dream fresh air.
of in there is a breath of fresh air. The cells had no
windows facing the yard, and they were connected by
a long, roofed corridor, so no sunlight or clean air came through.
[…] There were no walks or breaks in the yard, and our legs almost
atrophied from too much sitting. The cell was very crowded, and
it was almost impossible to walk.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was in the Etzion
detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons.
Full testimony

46 See Rules 13-14 of the Mandela Rules. In this regard, an obligation to ensure lighting and ventilation has
been established, such that places where prisoners are held have windows large enough to allow them to read
or work under natural light, in addition to supplying artificial lighting. The rules also stipulate an obligation to
allow fresh air to enter, regardless of the presence of a ventilation system.

47 The right to an hour outside the cell in the open air for physical exercise and maintaining prisoners’ health is
enshrined, for instance, in Rule 21 of the Mandela Rules on minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners, and
in domestic law, in Sec. 9 of the Criminal Procedure Regulations (Enforcement Powers – Arrests) (Detention
Conditions) 5757-1997, which enshrines the right to an "excursion hour" and walking in the fresh air each day.

28
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

Until the war, we were allowed out of the cells for 12 hours,
between 6:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M., and could walk in a large
lot outside, to be in the sun. But since 7 October, we were only
allowed out for the shower, and we’d look there for the few rays
of sunlight that came through a hole in the wall. On the days
we couldn’t shower, I bathed in the toilet bowl with cold water,
using the pitcher for hand washing before prayers.
From the testimony of S.B.
a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

We were also forbidden to go outside to the yard,

For 191 days,
unlike before. For 191 days, I didn’t see the sun.
I didn’t see
the sun.
From the testimony of Thaer Halahleh
45, a father of four and resident of Kharas in Hebron District, who was held in the
Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

C. Roll call and cell searches

Another major change in prison procedures since 7 October concerns the frequency
of roll calls and cell searches and how they are conducted. These practices no
longer serve their original purpose, and have become an opportunity for prison
guards to unleash severe violence and another tool for humiliating and degrading
prisoners. Roll call was held three to five times a day, and sometimes included a
search of the cell. Most of the witnesses related that inmates were forced to crowd
together, facing the wall, with their heads bowed down to the floor and their
hands interlocked on the back of their necks, in some cases kneeling in prostration
as during prayer. Unlike the past, cell searches became a daily occurrence, even
though the cells had been almost entirely emptied of personal belongings.

The rules for roll call also changed completely. Each inmate had
to stand, put both hands on his head and bend his neck. One of
the guards read out the names over loudspeaker, and each inmate
had to answer he was present.

From the testimony of Muhammad Nazzal

18, a resident of Qabatiyah in Jenin District, who was held in the Megiddo and
Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

29
 Welcome to Hell

In addition to the daily count, which was meant During

to humiliate the detainees, they would conduct a the daily
daily search of the cells: they would handcuff us, search,
take us out of the cells, beat and kick everyone; they would
then they would search the cell, including wet our
the windows, walls and floor. That happened clothes and
every day: three counts and one search a day. mattresses.
Sometimes, during the daily search, they would
wet our clothes and mattresses.
From the testimony of Z.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

We were counted three times a day. It was done in a humiliating

way, with the guards shouting. The unit would come in heavily
armed with gas and batons. It was absolutely forbidden to not
stand up for roll call. Those who didn’t obey were punished with
isolation or beatings. You couldn’t talk or do anything during roll
call, not even move. If you scratched your nose, for example, you
were in for it. [...] There was also a policy of collective punishment
and random searches of the cells about once a week. They would
force us to undress and then search us, take us out of the cells into
the corridor and do a thorough search of the room. It could take
an hour or even several hours, and included shouting, assaults
and beatings with batons.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

We were counted three times a day. During roll call, we had to

kneel on the floor with our heads bent down to the ground and
our hands on our heads. They took photos of us in that position.

From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb

53, a father of five and resident of Hebron who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketzio) prisons | Full testimony

They started searching the cells frequently and confiscating the

most basic things, paper, pens, batteries and radios. They took

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 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

away our mattresses every day between 6:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M.
From the testimony of S.B., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

D. Denying access to and contact with the outside world

The right to access the courts

In October, as the Minister of National Security declared a "prison state of emergency"

in Israel and the West Bank, the government extended the maximum time permitted
in law to hold Palestinian detainees without judicial or administrative review.

In the West Bank, Israel made several amendments to military legislation,48 including
an amendment to Section 33 of the Order regarding Security Provisions [Incorporated
Version] (Judea and Samaria Area) (No. 1651) 5760-2009, which governs the use
of "combat arrest" – an arrest made during counter-terrorism operations – and
applies only when there is concern the detainee might pose a threat to the security
of the area, the forces, the military or the public. The amendment extends the
time a detainee may be held before being brought before a judge to receive an
administrative detention order to eight full days, even though the detention periods
permitted in security legislation are already much longer than the standards set in
international law, and in comparison to the times stipulated in Israeli law.49

Using a different approach to arrests made in the Gaza Strip, Israel brought these
under the infamous and controversial Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants
Law (2002),50 in a bid to deny Gaza detainees the status of "prisoners of war" or
"protected persons," which affords them various protections under international
humanitarian law.51 In practice, most Gaza residents who were detained did not

48 On 7 June 1967, the Military Commander signed the Proclamation Concerning the Entry into Force of the
Order Concerning Security Provisions (West Bank Area) (No. 3), 5727-1967, according to which the Order Con-
cerning Security Provisions (West Bank Area) 1967, will come into effect that day.

49 See, e.g., HCJ 10720/06 Farid v. Military Court of Appeals (2007); HCJ 3368/10 Ministry of Palestinian
Prisoners v. Minister of Defense (2014).

50 As well as criminal arrest warrants. See, e.g., HCJ 2254/24 Musa v. Israel Defense Forces et al. (2 May 2024)
.
51 Though Israel did significantly extend the period of time in which detainees can be held without judicial re-
view or meeting with legal counsel in the West Bank via security legislation and criminal warrants, in its view,
Israel was constrained by provisions of international law from extending these periods as radically as it did in
the case of Gaza detainees.

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 Welcome to Hell

actively participate in the fighting and were taken into custody in a mass wave
of arbitrary arrests. Under this law, thousands of Palestinians were automatically
tagged as "enemy combatants" with no factual basis to support this. Defining them
as such allowed Israel to hold them for extremely long periods of time with no
external review whatsoever, while, even in its original format, the detention powers
prescribed in the law were deemed to "significantly and seriously violate the personal
liberty of the prisoner" and the means it provides for were found to be "exceptional".52

The temporary order and emergency regulations enacted by the government

extended the maximum periods set in law for holding detainees before launching
the initial administrative process, holding a hearing and issuing a custody order,
and bringing the detainee before a judge. They also set longer periods for denying
a meeting with legal counsel, and limited judicial review to video conferencing.53
Over the course of the war, and as the number of detainees grew, the periods
stipulated in the temporary orders were extended further,54 even though the
detention powers provided for in the law prior to the amendment had already
been described by the Supreme Court as significantly and seriously violating
detainees’ personal liberty.55 The Supreme Court has recently deliberated the
legality of the amendment and upheld these extended periods, despite the fact
that they effectively deny the right to access to the courts.56 Subsequently,
another temporary order stipulated that all hearings in the matter of Palestinian

52 CrimA 6659/06 A. v. State of Israel, 62(4) 329 (2008), translation from Versa Website, Benjamin N. Cardozo
School of Law of Yeshiva University, see here.

53 On 13 October 2023, the government enacted the Emergency Regulations (Time Frames for Processing Un-
lawful Combatants during War or Military Operations) 5784-2023. The regulations were enacted pursuant to
Section 39(f) of Basic Law: The Government. They were initially valid for three months, up to January 2024, and
have since been extended several times, most recently up to 31 July 2024. See on this matter, Response on behalf
of the State, HCJ 1414/24 Public Committee Against Torture in Israel et al. v. Knesset et al. (pending), available here.

54 The Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law (Amendment No. 4 and Swords of Iron Temporary Order)
5764-2023, dated 18 December 2023, stipulated the longest time frames, allowing 75 days before detainee is
brought before a judge (compared to 14 days prior); temporary confinement order may be extended for up to
45 days (instead of 96 hours, as prescribed by law, Sec. 10(a)(a)(3)); meeting with legal counsel can be withheld
for up to 45 days, or 180 with a supervisor’s approval (compared to 10 and 21 days respectively). The Temporary
Order has recently been amended again, providing a maximum period of 90 days for denying meeting with
legal counsel (Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law (Amendment No. 4 and Swords of Iron Temporary
Order) (Amendment) 5764-2024 (published on 7 April 2024, Book of Laws 3203, p. 780)).

55 See supra note 39.

56 The High Court of Justice instructed the State to respond to the proposal to institute a system for examining
complaints made by Palestinian detainees about prison conditions within a week. In the hearing of the petition
brought against the law, which currently allows holding detainees for 45 days without judicial review, Justice
Kasher said: "I am looking for someone in whose ear one can scream, ‘They’re doing awful and terrible things
to me." See here (Hebrew).

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 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

detainees and prisoners would be held via Zoom video conferencing, and they
would not be physically brought before the judge hearing their case.57

The obligation to bring every detainee before a judge for judicial review without
delay is derived from the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest, a cornerstone
of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Article 9
of the ICCPR (1966) enshrines the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of liberty
through arrest or incarceration. This provision includes both a duty to promptly
inform the detainee of the reason for the arrest and the duty to bring them
before a judge for judicial review at the first opportunity.58 It is important to note
that the ICCPR does allow limiting the application of Article 9 and suspending
some of the rights it prescribes in times of national emergencies and crises.59

Similar provisions are enshrined in a number of additional conventions and

documents,60 including the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All
Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the Fourth Geneva
Convention,61 which enshrines the obligation to conduct judicial review as soon
as possible. This treaty also includes a provision allowing a "suspension" of this
right during national emergency or war.62

The vast majority of the witnesses whose testimonies are presented here went
days, weeks, and in some cases, months before being brought before a judge for
the first time. In keeping with the temporary order, and barring exceptional cases,

57 See, Law regarding Video Conference Hearings for Prisoners and Detainees (Temporary Order – Swords of
Iron) 5764-2023, extended until 19 August 2024.

58 See ICCPR, Arts. 9(2) and 9(3).

59 Art. 4 of the ICCPR states as follows: "In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and
the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures
derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of
the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international
law and do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, color, sex, language, religion or social origin. 2.
No derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs I and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision."

60 See also Art. 5(3) and 5(2) of the ECHR which stipulate the rights to access and to information regarding the
arrest. The European Court of Human Rights had ruled that although Article 6 of the ECHR does not explicitly
state as much, access to the courts is included in prisoners’ right to due process; see Golder v. UK (21 February
1975), European Court of Human Rights.

61 Section 11(1) of the Body of Principles stipulates a ban on keeping individuals in detention without giving
them "an effective opportunity to be heard promptly by a judicial or other authority."

62 Art. 43 of the Fourth Geneva Convention establishes the obligation to conduct a judicial review as early as
possible, and at the same time, Art. 5 of the Convention states that in times of war and emergencies, it is pos-
sible to suspend certain rights, including this right.

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 Welcome to Hell

the hearings themselves took place remotely via Zoom, and in at least two cases,
the detainee attended the hearing using nothing more than the prison guard’s cell
phone. In these circumstances, judges are unlikely to observe whether detainees
are injured, hurt or physically deteriorated, and the menacing presence of the prison
guards inhibits prisoners from complaining to the judges or reporting the torture
they underwent. In the few cases in which prisoners dared to complain about their
treatment, the guards made sure to take revenge on them for it.

They took me and another detainee to a room where they sat us in

front of a computer to participate in a live court hearing. Before
the hearing began, we were attacked and beaten
hard with metal batons all over our bodies for IPS people
more than 30 minutes. At the court hearing took
there were judges, prosecutors, a translator revenge on
and a lawyer. When the lawyer saw me on the me for
computer with my face red, swollen and bruised, complaining
he asked what happened to me. I told him what about their
happened before the hearing and he asked me behavior.
to tell the judge. I did get the chance to speak at They hit and
the hearing and I told the judge what happened. kicked me
He asked me if I had been taken in for a medical brutally the
check and if a doctor had treated me. I said no. whole way.
He recommended taking me to a doctor.

[…] During the hearing, I also spoke about how we were brutally
attacked and abused by the guards during transfers, but the judge
didn’t pay attention to that. After the hearing, on the way to the
cell, the IPS people took revenge on me for complaining about
their behavior. They hit and kicked me brutally the whole way.

From the testimony of Muhammad Srur

34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

Three days after I reached Ofer Prison, I had a court hearing. The
prison guard took me out of the cell, and I watched the hearing
over Zoom on his phone. The lawyer told me I was issued an
administrative detention order for six months. I asked the judge
why I was given administrative detention, and he said that it was

34
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

because I was a former prisoner and we were in a state of war.

That’s how the hearing ended. Then they took me back to the cell.
From the testimony of Z.T., a resident of Bethlehem District | Full testimony

From there, they took us one by one to a room where we attended

our hearings via Zoom. On the way there, IRF
members punched me very hard in the chest. The judge
An Arabic-speaking guard was in the room, and asked me,
he listened to the entire conversation between "Have you
me, the judge and the lawyer. He threatened been exposed
that if I complained to the judge, I would pay. to violence
The lawyer told me before the hearing that in prison?" I
the judges already knew about everything that didn’t dare
was going on in the prison, so there was no answer,
point talking about it. Still, in the hearing he because I
asked me, "Have you been exposed to violence was afraid
in prison?" I didn’t dare answer, because I was the guards
afraid the guards would retaliate and beat me would
even more brutally. […] Every time they took retaliate
me to the room where we attended our court and beat me
hearings on Zoom, I endured the same path even more
of torture, beating and humiliation. All the brutally.
inmates in the prison went through that.
From the testimony of Firas Hassan
50, a father of four and resident of Hindaza in Bethlehem District, who was held in
the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

A guard came and told me I had a court hearing to approve the

detention. He asked if I wanted to go and I said yes. During the
hearing, I told the judge that we were being beaten and attacked,
and that our privacy and rights were violated. The judge claimed
that the beatings had stopped. I told him: "They beat us today,
Your Honor." He put his hands on his head and said nothing.

The officer was there, and he looked at me menacingly. Then, he

handcuffed me from behind, even though the other prisoners who

35
 Welcome to Hell

had hearings were handcuffed in front. As soon

The judge
as I went back into the wing, escorted by two
claimed that
guards I know, one of them kicked my leg and the
the beatings
other took the slippers I was wearing and hit me
had stopped.
on the head. When I advanced a little, the guards
I told him:
attacked me again. One of them kicked me from
"They beat
behind and knocked me to the floor and then he
us today,
beat me badly. He took a metal hammer and hit
Your Honor."
me on my lower back and right thigh and then
he hit my testicles again and I started screaming.
From the testimony of 'A.A., a resident of Hebron District | Full testimony

Withholding meetings with legal counsel and visits

A prisoner’s classification as a "security" or "criminal" inmate has a crucial impact

on their incarceration conditions.63 According to the Prison Ordinance, "security"
prisoners are subject to broad restrictions on contact with the outside world,
including prison leave, visits, conjugal and otherwise, and telephone calls.64 After
7 October, the limited avenues available to prisoners for maintaining some sort
of contact with the outside world were swiftly denied as well. Family visits were
canceled altogether and meetings with legal counsel were denied for increasingly
long durations, reaching as much as 180 days, on the pretext of "dynamic needs on
the ground."65 Most of the witnesses interviewed for this report did not see their
lawyers once during their entire incarceration.

The right to legal representation is enshrined in Article 14 of the ICCPR and derives
from Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which also stipulates detainees’

63 Commission Ordinance No. 04.05.00 "Definition of Security Prisoner"; For the distinction between incar-
ceration conditions for security and criminal prisoners, see, inter alia, Oriana Almasi, Security Prisoners’ Incar-
ceration Conditions in IPS Facilities, Knesset Research and Information Center (2015) (Hebrew); see also, Leslie
Sebba and Rachela Erel, "Freestyle Imprisonment: On the Implementation of International Human-Rights
Norms in the Israeli Prison System", Hukim (Laws) 10 (2017): 9, supra note 37 (Hebrew).

64 See, Commission Ordinance 03.02.00, "Rules for Security Prisoners"; Alon Harel, "Who Is a Security Prisoner
and Why? An Examination of the Legality of Prison Regulations Governing Security Prisoners," in Threat – Pal-
estinian Political Prisoners in Israel, eds. Abeer Baker & Anat Matar, (2011), p. 37.

65 See HCJ 2254/24 Abu Musa v. IDF et al. (dated 2 May 2024), para. 2: "Given the Incarceration of Unlawful
Combatants Law... according to which, the maximum period of time in which denying meeting with legal
counsel is permitted is 90 days, the first and third remedies in this petition have become moot in light of the
option to arrange a meeting with legal counsel."

36
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

right to receive visitors, especially close relatives, at "regular intervals and as

frequently as possible" (Article 116). Alongside these, Principle 18(1) of the UN Body
of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or
Imprisonment enshrines detainees and prisoners’ right to communicate with legal
counsel. The Body of Principles also stipulates prisoners have a right to receive
visits and communicate, particularly with their relatives. The UN Commission on
Human Rights stated, as far back as 2003, that it "reminds all States that prolonged
incommunicado detention may facilitate the perpetration of torture and can in itself
constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture [...]."66

Similarly, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that holding detainees in
conditions of isolation and depriving them of communication for an extended period
of time, which can be detrimental to their psychological integrity, amounts to cruel
and inhuman treatment and constitutes a violation of Article 3 of the European
Convention on Human Rights. The prohibition this article places on torture and
abuse is complete. It applies during war and emergencies and cannot be suspended.67

Figures presented to government-level officials and corroborated by the

testimonies presented here,68 indicate that in line with the new official policy,69
most of the Palestinians arrested after 7 October received no legal counsel or
representation. They have also been prevented from seeing their family members
or meeting with representatives of the ICRC, aid and human rights organizations,
the Public Defender’s Office,70 or any other official oversight bodies such as the
Bar Association. These bans, coupled with the confiscation of TVs and radios
from prisoners’ cells, have left them completely cut off from the outside world
throughout their incarceration.71

66 Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/RES/2003/32, para 14.

67 Ilascu and Others v. Russia and Moldova, Application 48787/99, paras. 432, 442.

68 In the transcripts of a hearing held by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (p. 15), a representative
of the Southern District Attorney’s Office notes: "They aren’t represented. No one has been represented to this
day. They haven’t had lawyers. They’re under a meeting ban, and the bill seeks to extend the time frames for
denying meetings in this context too."

69 See Respondent’s response in HCJ 7753/23 Association for Civil Rights et al. v. Minister of National Security
et al., available here, as well as the response of the Minister of National Security in HCJ 2858/24 Association
for Civil Rights in Israel v. Minister of National Security, served to the Petitioners separately from the State’s
response, available here.

70 The first Public Defender’s report on prisoners and prison conditions came out only four months into the
war, on 6 February 2024, and is available (in Hebrew) on the Public Defender’s Office website here.
71 According to media reports, it was the office of Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, on whose

37
 Welcome to Hell

I was in Ofer for about 12 days and during that There was no
whole time I wasn’t interrogated, didn’t receive contact with
a visit from a lawyer or from family, and didn’t anyone on
see a judge. None of the detainees knew what the outside,
they were suspected of, and everyone was in a not even the
state of tension and uncertainty. There were Red Cross.
no family visits and there was no contact with
anyone on the outside, not even the Red Cross. We were cut off
from the news and the outside world

From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi

58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held
in the Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons
Full testimony

Throughout the entire period of detention,

We were in
I didn’t meet with a lawyer. I also didn’t see
complete
my parents or other family members, because
isolation, cut
they canceled visits altogether. We were in
off from the
complete isolation, cut off from the world and
world.
unaware of what was happening outside. We
couldn’t follow the news because they took away the TVs and
radios. Our only source of information was new detainees.

From the testimony of Muhammad Salah

27, a resident of Burqah in Nablus District, who was held in Megiddo Prison
Full testimony

We were completely isolated. We didn’t know what was going on

outside, and our families didn’t know what was happening to us
because there were no means of communication.
From the testimony of ‘A.A., a resident of Hebron District | Full testimony

behalf it was stated as an act of public policy, that visits to security detainees by the Red Cross and/or human
rights organizations should not be permitted, see here (Hebrew).

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 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

E. Restrictions on religious worship

Article 93 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates an obligation to allow

detainees to worship and hold religious services in accordance with their faith.
The picture that emerges from various testimonies indicates severe violations
of this right and insults to the religious sentiments of prisoners as a matter of
stated policy.72 In some facilities, group prayer has been prohibited, while other
witnesses described prison guards mocking them and insulting their faith and
religion. Witnesses also described other bans and barriers affecting worship, such
as withholding access to water, which impedes ablution, bans on praying out loud
and the confiscation of Qurans.

Calling for prayers was forbidden. Of course, they confiscated the

Qurans. Even group prayer in the cells was forbidden. If the guards
heard the Quran being read out in a cell, they would punish all
the inmates in it.

From the testimony of ‘Atef ‘Awawdeh

53, a father of seven and resident of Deir Samit, Hebron District

After 7 October, they also confiscated all the Qurans, and when
the guards found a Quran during a search,
they would throw it on the floor and stomp When the
on it. The prayer mats and prayer beads were guards found
also confiscated, and prayer was prohibited a Quran
in general – both group and individual. It was during a
forbidden to pray out loud, and there were search, they
prisoners who were beaten for praying alone would throw
out loud. They allowed detainees to resume it on the
praying individually a month before Ramadan, floor and
but silently. Prayer with a silencer! […] We stomp on it.
would do the prayer ablutions without water,
because we just didn’t have any.
From the testimony of Z.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

72 The media reported that IRF personnel raided the cells in the wing upon hearing the sound of prayer before
Ramadan, see here (Hebrew).

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 Welcome to Hell

They also prohibited haircuts and communal prayer. We weren’t

even allowed to hold the ‘Eid al-Fitr prayer on 10 April 2024. […]
Running water was only available 15 minutes a day — not at a fixed
time, but when the guard on duty felt like it. I cleaned a plastic
garbage bag and filled it with water so we could drink and wash
for prayers at other times.
From the testimony of Thaer Halahleh
45, a father of four and resident of Kharas in Hebron District, who was held in the
Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

It was during evening prayers, and the guards heard someone

calling out for prayers. They threw a stun grenade in the cell they
put us in, and quickly went to cell 1. They attacked everyone in
the cell and we heard the inmates screaming. They beat them
relentlessly for half an hour.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

On Friday, 10 November 2023, I led the prisoners

Then one of
in the cell in public prayer. Some of the prisoners
them told
cried. We heard one of the guards looking at
me that if I
us through the window in the door. We knew,
prayed again,
then and there, that we would be attacked. In
he’d kill me.
the evening, the guards counted us as usual.
Right after roll call, 14 IRF members attacked us with the butts of
their rifles. They beat us for a long time, especially one prisoner.
They broke his left shoulder, and his left eye swelled up. He passed
out. They had a medic with them, and he even yelled at them to
stop hitting him, but they didn’t listen. Then, one of the guards
pointed at me and said: "That’s him." The IRF people dragged me,
threw me on the floor and kicked me in the head. I tried to shield
my head with my hands, but the guards pushed them away and
kept beating me. I screamed in pain after about ten minutes of
being beaten. I couldn’t move. Then one of them told me that if
I prayed again, he’d kill me. When they left the cell, I was semi-

40
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

conscious and bleeding from the nose and ears.

From the testimony of A.H., Hebron District | Full testimony

F. Conf iscation of personal possessions

The right to keep personal property in a cell derives from the obligation to ensure
adequate life in detention, and is expressed in both international and domestic
law.73 One of the very first steps taken by prison authorities as soon as the war
began was to confiscate all shared and personal property that Palestinian prisoners
kept in their cells. As prisoners faced shrinking living spaces and downgraded living
conditions, they were also left without a change of clothes and shoes, kettles, radios,
TVs, soap, cleaning materials and even food they had purchased in the canteen.
Everything was removed from the cells, including books and personal documents.

The day they put us in isolation, they also confiscated everything

we had in the cells: fans, kettles, food and such, and cut off the
power to all the cells in the prison. When we came back, the cell
was completely empty. They put our belongings in the library.
Because the power was cut off, we couldn’t follow the news. They
also turned off the hot water in the showers.  

On 19 October 2023, guards came barging into the cells again.

These invasions of our cells by men were a serious violation of our
privacy. They entered unannounced, when some of the inmates
didn’t have their headscarves on and weren’t dressed modestly.
This time, they confiscated the tables and chairs and even the
shoes, and beat us with batons.
From the testimony of N.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

73 The Mandela Rules list prison conditions and rules for protecting personal property and prisoners’
rights to keep clothing, bedding etc.; Art. 97 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates that inmates
should, generally, be permitted to retain personal effects during their incarcerations and any items taken
from them are to be returned upon their release; the Tel Aviv District Court has ruled that Regulation 5
of the Criminal Procedure Regulations (Enforcement Powers – Arrests) (Detention Conditions), 5757-1997
prescribes detainees’ rights to keep personal possessions in their cells (stationery, books, religious objects,
board games, radios, shoes, wedding ring or watch, electric kettle, etc.) (Case (Prisoner Petition) Tel Aviv
District Court 62518-05-17 Gali v. Israel Prison Service (4 July 2017)). In this ruling, the court gave a dual
interpretation to the purpose of the regulation – both with respect to the conditions meeting the obli-
gation to enable an adequate life in detention, and to recognize the prisoner’s connection to the outside
world and their previous surroundings.

41
 Welcome to Hell

We had no clothes other than what we had on, We had no

so we couldn’t change or really wash them. We clothes other
wore the same clothes all the time. They held than what
a search every day, and if they found another we had on, so
piece of clothing, they confiscated it. They also we couldn’t
carried out random searches at night and took change or
anything they found. One prisoner stayed in really wash
the same clothes for 51 days. them.
From the testimony of Sami Khalili
41, a resident of Nablus who was serving a prison sentence from 2003 and was held
in the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

G. Living in darkness

The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly states that holding detainees in facilities
without daylight is prohibited and constitutes a form of cruelty.74 The blanket
policy applied in prisons after 7 October, on alleged security grounds, included
keeping inmates in cells without lighting in all prisons.75 Inmates were kept in
darkness through the entire day, except during roll call. In wings where almost no
daylight penetrates, they had difficulty navigating spaces due to the complete lack
of lighting. As they were also denied a fresh air break in the yard, they remained in
darkness for days and weeks.

The light would only turn on from 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. The first
floor was very dark, and even during the day it felt like night.
The second floor was slightly better. I was on the second floor
in November and December, and then moved to the first floor
during January and February.
From the testimony of Muhammad Salah
27, a resident of Burqah in Nablus District, who was held in Megiddo Prison
Full testimony

74 Art. 118(2) of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

75 See State’s response to HCJ 7753/23 Association for Civil Rights v. Minister of Public Security, regarding the
living conditions of the security prisoners, including the decision to cut off electricity and lighting (hereinafter:
the living conditions case).

42
 Prison protocols Welcome to Hell

In the first month and a half at Ketziot, there was lighting in

the room only after 8:00 P.M. Then they started cutting off the
electricity day and night. They’d turn on the light only during
roll call, so the guard could count the detainees.
From the testimony of Z.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

43
 Welcome to Hell

4.

Physical and psychological abuse

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 Welcome to Hell

4.
Ph y s i ca l an d p syc hol og ica l a bu se

The prohibition on torture in international law

The prohibition on torture is one of the cornerstones of international law. Unlike
other accepted norms in this legal field, the prohibition on torture is absolute,76 and
no state may derogate from it or suspend it in times of peace, war or emergency.77
Over the years, this prohibition has been established as a customary rule
incumbent on all countries, organizations and persons in the world, irrespective
of the applicability of any particular international treaty.78

Various instruments, including ones signed by Israel, contain an explicit and absolute
prohibition on any type of torture.79 The Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which Israel signed
in 1986 and ratified in 1991,80 requires States parties to take steps to prosecute and
punish perpetrators.81 The ICCPR also contains an explicit provision to this effect.82

76 According to Art. 16.2 of the CAT; Art. 7 of the ICCPR stipulates: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The full text of the ICCPR is available here.

77 See Judgement of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Trial Chamber decision re-
garding the impossibility of derogating from this provision, para. 144 of the decision, available here.

78 For a discussion of the formation of this legal status see Nigel Rodley, The Treatment of Prisoners under
International Law, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), ch. 2.

79 Art. 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates a blanket prohibition on the use of torture against
protected persons or any other intentional infliction of suffering. Art. 37 of the Convention states: "Protected
persons who are confined pending proceedings or serving a sentence involving loss of liberty, shall during their
confinement be humanely treated." Another source on the rights of prisoners that prohibits torture and inhu-
mane treatment is the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Another normative source is the Commis-
sion on Responsibilities – which was established as part of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. See also: The
Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties (1919), S.C. Res.
955, annex, art. 4, UN Doc. S/RES/955 (Nov. 8, 1994), see here.

80 The CAT defines torture in Art. 1 as follows: "[A]ny act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical
or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person infor-
mation or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having
committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any
kind [...]. "See on this, HCJ 5100/94 Public Committee against Torture in Israel v. Government of Israel and Shin
Bet, (hereinafter: the torture case) (English translation available on Israeli Supreme Court website here).

81 Ibid., Art. 2 of the Convention.

82 Arts. 7 and 10 of the ICCPR respectively concern punishment in general and punishment particular to indi-
viduals deprived of their liberty.

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

Torture has been defined as both a crime against humanity83 and a war crime84
in the Rome Statute, the constitution of the International Criminal Court in The
Hague.85 The UN Security Council resolutions that established the international
criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda86 included torture as one
of the Geneva Convention violations under the tribunals’ jurisdiction.87

To supplement this, common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which reflect

humanitarian law in relation to armed conflicts, and Additional Protocol II to
these conventions, prohibit torture and cruel treatment.88 Article 119 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention prescribes: "In no case shall disciplinary penalties be inhuman,
brutal or dangerous for the health of internees. Account shall be taken of the
internee’s age, sex and state of health."

Thousands of Palestinians classified by Israel’s prison system as "security prisoners"

are incarcerated in Israeli prisons at any given moment.89 This classification brings
with it a slew of restrictions and stringent conditions concerning how and where
the prison sentence is served, incarceration conditions and security arrangements.90

We were taken to Megiddo. When we got off the bus, a soldier

said to us: "Welcome to hell."
From the testimony of Fouad Hassan
45, a father of five and resident of Qusrah in Nablus District, who was held in
Megiddo Prison | Full testimony

83 Art. 7(1)(f) of the Rome Statute. Art. 7(2)(e) defines torture as, "[T]he intentional infliction of severe pain or
suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused [...]."

84 Art. 8(2) of the Rome Statute.

85 According to the Rome Statute, the ICC has jurisdiction to consider four categories of international crimes:
the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

86 S.C. Res. 955, annex, art. 4, UN Doc. S/RES/955 (Nov. 8, 1994).

87 S.C. Res. 827, U.N. Doc. S/RES/827 (May 25, 1993); see William A. Schabas, "The Crime of Torture and the
International Criminal Tribunals," Case Western Reserve J. Int’l L., 37(2), (2006): 349.

88 Nigel Rodley, Matt Pollard, The Treatment of Prisoners Under International Law, 186 (3rd. ed., 2009): 59-62.

89 According to the IPS Ordinance, a security prisoner is a prisoner who committed an offense for nationally
motivated reasons and/or belongs to a declared terrorist organization and/or is the subject of a Shin Bet secu-
rity threat report (Commission Order 04.05.00).

90 See IPS Commission Ordinance No. 03.02.00 "Rules for Security Prisoners" (15 March 2002).

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 Welcome to Hell

Institutional violence against Palestinian prisoners by prison authorities has

increased significantly since 7 October. Testimonies attest to physical, sexual,
psychological and verbal violence, directed at all Palestinian prisoners and
perpetrated in an arbitrary, menacing fashion, usually under a shroud of anonymity.
Acts of violence against prisoners are carried out by soldiers, IPS guards and IPS
special forces.

The scope of violence emerging from the testimonies clarifies that these are
not isolated, random incidents, but rather an institutional policy integral to the
treatment of prisoners. This conduct, its various elements and the many officials
directing and practicing it, raises genuine concern that serious criminal offenses are
being committed under Israeli law, as well as grave breaches of Israel’s international
law obligations that may amount to war crimes and even crimes against humanity.

A. Physical violence and intimidation

Prisoners are brutally attacked at every stage of detention and incarceration:

when initially taken into custody, during transfers between interrogation facilities,
military detention centers and IPS facilities, at admission to prison, and during roll
call and cell searches. Violence is an ever-present part of daily life: every time a
prisoner enters or exits the cell, on rare visits to the infirmary, before and after
court hearings, and even before being released.

On Sunday 5 November 2023 […] they took us out to an outer

courtyard between the wings. They put some of the prisoners
in the shower room, closed the doors and beat them in there for
about two minutes. When it was my turn, they took me to the
mess hall, but this time in wing 6. There were a few guards I knew
there. They weren’t masked. One of them told me: "Remember
my face so you don’t forget me."

They held me and then beat me. One of them kicked me hard in
the chest. I was pushed back and crashed into one of the others,
who started screaming and cursing. He grabbed a mirror with a
thick wooden frame and tried to hit me in the head with it, but

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

the others stopped him. They forcibly undressed me, took off my
pants and underwear, and tied my shirt over my head like a mask.
Then they hit my testicles with force. After that, the guards picked
me up and sat me on the metal frame of a sink. They brought two
more prisoners and told them to watch while
they beat me. I was still naked, and I saw them They forcibly
through the thin shirt that was covering my undressed
head. The guards pulled their hair to lift their me, took off
heads and forced them to open their eyes to my pants and
watch me. underwear,
and tied my
I took several punches in the waist area, until shirt over my
blood came out of my mouth. One of them head like a
came up to me, spat in my face, took me down mask.
from the frame and lifted my pants a little.
From there, they led me to cell 5 in wing 6, with my head bent
and my hands tied. There were two female guards standing at
the door of the cell, and I passed between them naked, meaning,
with my pants not covering my genitals.
From the testimony of A.H., a resident of Hebron District | Full testimony

Pepper spray, stun grenades, sticks, wooden clubs and metal batons, gun butts
and barrels, brass knuckles and tasers are just some of the instruments used to
torture and abuse prisoners according to the testimonies, in addition to setting
dogs on prisoners, beating, punching and kicking. These assaults often led to severe
injuries, loss of consciousness, broken bones, and in extreme cases even death, as
described further below.

I leaned against a wall. I had broken ribs and was injured in my

right shoulder, my right thumb, and a finger on my left hand. I
couldn’t move or breathe for half an hour. Everyone around me
was screaming in pain, and some inmates were crying. Most were
bleeding. It was a nightmare beyond words.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron District, who was held in the Etzion
detention facility and the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

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 Welcome to Hell

At admission, we were strip-searched again, fully naked. The

most humiliating thing was that it was three female soldiers
who did the search […] Of course, during the search, there was
swearing, beating and kicking of the legs, on the pretext that we
had to spread our legs wider. These kicks knocked people down
on the floor. Then, they took us to the doctor, where they asked us
the usual questions, i.e. if we had any medical conditions or take
any medication. Then they took pictures of us and then they took
us into the Shin Bet [Israel Security Service] one by one. There
was a huge Israeli flag on the wall. The first question the Shin Bet
officer asked was: "Which organization do you belong to?" Then
he ordered me to kiss the flag while I was being filmed. There
were about 20 soldiers in the room. I told the officer I wouldn’t do
it, and he said, "You have to kiss the flag." I told him "No, I don’t
want to." Suddenly, the 20 soldiers in the room started beating
me. They hit me all over my body with whatever they could find.
One of them kicked me in the head, and I passed out. They were
still beating me when I came to. Then they made me stand and
took pictures of me with the flag behind me. I was taken out of
the room and beaten again until I passed out again.

I woke up when someone said: "He’s dead, he’s dead," in Hebrew,

"Get away from him." He told me to get up and wash my face in the
bathroom. I saw that my whole body was covered in blood. I was
bleeding from the nose, mouth and head too. He told me in Arabic
not to talk about what happened. It was one of the prison guards.
From the testimony of Fouad Hassan
45, a father of five and resident of Qusrah in Nablus District, who was held in
Megiddo Prison | Full testimony

During the torture in the interrogation, they would ask me:

"Where's Sinwar?" I would answer that I didn't know. The soldier
said: "Confess, so you can go home." The female soldier standing
behind me put an electric device on my neck and I got an electric
shock that pushed me two meters away.
From the testimony of Rushdi Zaza
30, a father of two and resident of the a-Zeitun neighborhood in Gaza City who
was held in the Negev (Ketzio) Prison and in another facility he did not recognize

49
 Physical and psychological abuse

Once, after roll call, a week before my release, a guard asked if we

were Hamas guys and we told him we were prisoners. The guard
told his friends to attack us. They kicked us and hit us with metal
batons. Every time I tried to cover my head with my hands, they
hit me on the hands as well as the rest of my body. It hurt a lot.
The assault went on for a long time.
From the testimony of Muhammad Nazzal
18, a resident of Qabatiyah in Jenin District, who was held in the Megiddo and
Negev (Ketziot) prisons | full testimon

On 7 October 2023, we heard on the news that About 20

Hamas attacked Israeli communities near guards burst
the Gaza border. That day, about 20 guards with batons
burst with batons into the cell I shared with into the cell
five other inmates and beat us for about half I shared with
an hour. The guards came into the cell, hit us five other
on the head from behind and sprayed large inmates and
amounts of pepper spray in the cell. We all beat us for
started suffocating. They handcuffed us with about half
metal handcuffs, which they opened by hitting an hour.
them on our hands. The pepper spray burned
our faces and stung our eyes. We asked for cream to soothe the
pain, but they refused. Later, we were taken to isolation cells on
the second floor. I was put in an isolation cell with a prisoner
from Nablus. It’s a tiny cell, with no bed or mattress. There’s a
toilet right there in the room, with no partition or privacy. It
was very cold.
From the testimony of N.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

Assault dogs were one of the means used to terrorize and physically harm prisoners.
Testimonies reveal that setting dogs on inmates has become part of the new prison
routine. These attacks were carried out inside or outside the cells, usually using muzzled
dogs – but in at least one case without a muzzle, in defiance of IPS protocols.91

91 See in this context, Freedom of Information Request 310/22: Receiving Instructions and Figures on the Use
of Dogs for Enforcement (4 April 2022) (Hebrew), as well as the Operations Division Procedure 220.013.52,
"Handling an Aggressive Dog," provided in response. Available here (Hebrew).

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 Welcome to Hell

IRF people came into our cell together with

some other security personnel ,some of them One of the
armed ,and three police dogs. After roll call, the dogs bit a
IRF people attacked us with wooden clubs and prisoner in
iron batons, beat us all over our bodies, kicked the arm un-
us and set the dogs on us. One of the dogs bit a til he bled.
prisoner in the arm until he bled. Another dog Another dog
bit me while I was being beaten. […] He hit me bit me while
hard for about 10 minutes. Then, they left the I was being
cell. The prisoner who was bitten was seriously beaten.
injured, but we had nothing to treat him with.
From the testimony of A.H., Hebron District | Full testimony

They gathered all the detainees they wanted to transfer and took us
to buses. What happened next was very traumatic. As soon as they
took us out of the cell, they lined us up, and the prison staff and the
Nachshon unit members beat us brutally with rifles and clubs and
punched and kicked us. The worst was when they let their dogs
attack us. The dogs were muzzled, but it was very frightening, and
they scratched our faces and hands with their claws.
From the testimony of Musa ‘Aasi
58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held
in the Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons
Full testimony

Facing the continual and unrelenting threat of severe, unyielding violence, prisoners
remained alert at all times and unable to protect themselves.

There were 10 soldiers there. They played loud music in the

yard and brutally beat the detainees, who were handcuffed and
blindfolded. They punched them, hit them with rifle butts and
kicked them. One of the young guys was beaten so badly that
his face and mouth bled. It was frightening. I thought they were
going to kill them right there in the yard. It lasted half an hour.
I’ve never seen anything like that in prison. You can’t begin to
imagine the beating those guys took. […] We stayed on that wing
for 10 days. The scariest part of that period was at night. Unit
members would suddenly come into the cell, explicitly threaten

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

to kill us and beat us badly. They also played loud music at night.
We still had no blankets or mattresses. We barely survived those
10 days. We felt that death was hovering over us every minute.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron, who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

We lived in fear and panic. The only expressions They just

we saw on the faces of the guards and the special wanted the
forces were anger and vengefulness. Even prisoner
during roll call, they would taunt the prisoners, to open his
aiming laser beams at them. They just wanted mouth so
the prisoner to open his mouth so they could they could
pounce on him, beat him and crush him. pounce on
him, beat
I served 12 months in prison that felt like 12 years him and
of terror, arbitrary measures against prisoners crush him.
and daily torture, especially after 7 October.
During the war, their treatment of us was driven by a desire for
revenge over what happened near the Gaza border. They would
look at the prisoners, pick one as a victim, and then torture and
humiliate him to break the spirit of the other prisoners.
From the testimony of Khaled Abu ‘Ara
24, a resident of ‘Akabah in Tubas District, who was held in the Negev Prison (Ketziot)

They ordered us to sing and repeat the phrase "Am Yisrael Chai"
(the People of Israel live). They demanded each of us, in turn, to
say it. Anyone who refused was beaten. I refused, and then one
of the soldiers pushed my head down between the two seats and
hit me on the back and head. After that, he told me to say the
sentence after him and continued to press on my head. He moved
on to someone else each time, and then came back to me. They
told us they were taking us to Gaza to kill us there.

[…] On the way, the "party" started: "Am Yisrael Chai," shouting,
"you’ll die in Gaza." They beat us and swore at us. We were filmed,

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 Welcome to Hell

which I realized when one of them raised my They also

head and pointed it in the direction of his made me
cell phone in order to take a video with me. stand up, and
He lifted my blindfold and demanded that I from under
say that sentence. I refused, and he started the blindfold I
hitting me like before. saw they were
wrapping an
[…] They also made me stand up, and Israeli flag
from under the blindfold I saw they were around me and
wrapping an Israeli flag around me and filming me.
filming me. Then one of them put his arm
around my neck, pushed my head down and ran with me in
the yard. Another soldier filmed it. They pretended they were
shooting a kidnapping scene in a movie. I heard the soldiers
laughing and asking each other to take a video.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

B. Sleep deprivation

According to the testimonies, sleep deprivation was another practice employed by

prison authorities as an integral part of the daily abuses meted on inmates. In some
cases, lights were kept on in the cell all night. In others, guards played loud music or
unpleasant sounds to keep prisoners from sleeping. These are acts that sometimes
amount to actual torture. Sleep deprivation for extended periods of time has long
been recognized by various international bodies and conventions as abuse that may
amount to torture.92 The testimonies indicate that deliberate use of sleep deprivation
continued for days or weeks on end, resulting in a severe violation of the detainees’
rights to bodily and mental integrity, as well as their right to health.93

92 For example, the UN Committee against Torture, which has the competency to interpret human rights
conventions, criticized Israel’s Supreme Court, noting that in order to meet its obligations with respect to CAT,
it should have prohibited the use of measures amounting to torture, such as sleep deprivation, in its ruling in
the torture case (supra note 5). Committee against Torture, Summary record of the 496th meeting: Israel, U.N.
Doc. CAT/C/SR.496, para. 80.

93 See torture case, supra note 80, at 839-840.

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

They didn’t let us sleep, either, only three hours a night. In the last
three days, they didn’t let me sleep at all, in the day or in the night.
The soldiers would sing in Arabic and put on music in Arabic to keep
us from falling asleep. Then I really felt I was going crazy.
From the testimony of Shaimaa Abu Jiab Abu Ful
32, a resident of Jabalya R.C., who was held in the Anatot and Damun prisons.
Full testimony

To stop us from sleeping, they played things on loudspeakers

for hours: shouting, cursing, all kinds of whistles and other
disturbing noises, and the Israeli national anthem. It went on
like that until December, and then they stopped. The lights in
the cell were on all night until January 2024, and that made it
very difficult for us to sleep, too. In January they cut off power
to the cells altogether, and it was pretty dark during the day and
pitch dark at night.
From the testimony of Sami Khalili
41, a resident of Nablus who had been serving a prison sentence since 2003 and was
held in the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

In this wing, they played loud music all night. Rap songs, and
most of the time the song "Am Yisrael Chai" ("the People of Israel
Live"). They cursed our mothers on the loudspeakers. […] the
prison administration left the lights on all night. I turned off the
light in the cell because we couldn’t sleep. During morning roll
call, the officer asked who turned off the light, and then he and
other guards beat me and the other prisoners on the head and
then they left.
From the testimony of A.H., Hebron District | Full testimony

The next day, two guards came and took me I didn’t know
to a cell the size of 1.5 square meters with no what time it
toilet. I was in that cell alone formore than was or what day
three months. […] The light was on 24/7 and it was. I had no
I lost track of time. I didn’t know what time one to talk to.
it was or what day it was. I had no one to I almost went
talk to. I almost went crazy in there. crazy in there.
From the testimony of M.A., Hebron District | Full testimony

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 Welcome to Hell

C. Violence during transfers and travel

Given the high risk of harm to prisoners and the violation of their rights during
transitions, international law has enshrined provisions designed to ensure
prisoners’ safety during transport. The Fourth Geneva Convention contains
specific provisions for detainee transports, focusing on the duty to uphold their
human dignity and prescribing an express duty to avoid physically harming
detainees in these situations.94

The testimonies attest to severe violence used against prisoners during transfers:
whether between prison facilities, in prison waiting areas (also known as
"transitions") used as way stations prior to admission into prison or travel out of
it, and sometimes during transitions between wings and other areas inside the
prison itself.95 In some cases, prisoners are escorted by soldiers, and in others by
members of the IPS Nachshon unit, the official prisoner transport unit in Israel
and the West Bank.

Transitions act as somewhat of a "no man’s land," usually outside prison walls,
away from watchful eyes and surveillance cameras. Prisoners are transported
blindfolded, in handcuffs, and in most cases in legcuffs, too. They often do not
know where they are being taken or how long the journey will take.

I stayed in that cell until 1 November, and then they took me and
49 other detainees to a waiting cell for transfer. It was a tough
transfer. Our hands and feet were tied (without blindfolds), and
the Nachshon people who escorted us set their dogs on us, beat us
with batons, mainly on the back and legs, and kept cursing Hamas
leaders. We received humiliating treatment in the waiting cell
too. From there, they took us to the bus. The whole business,
from the moment they took us out of the cells until they put us
on the bus, took from 6:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M., meaning five hours
in a row of humiliation, abuse and unbearable beatings. […] After
about three hours of a tough, tiring journey, we arrived at Nafha

94 See Art. 127 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states, inter alia, that: "The transfer of internees shall
always be effected humanely."

95 See for example here.

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

Prison. We were taken out of the bus and on the way to the cell,
were treated the same way we were treated at Ofer Prison. They
set dogs on us, beat us badly and hurled insults at us.

[…] That day, at 4:00 P.M., my name was suddenly called. I wasn’t
told I was being released, so all kinds of thoughts ran through my
head, for example that they were going to take me to isolation.
Two of the guards lunged at me for no reason
and beat me for 30 minutes, until I couldn’t They forced
move anymore. Then they took me to a me to walk in
transport vehicle and put me in a cage inside front of them,
it. I was shackled like this: iron cuffs on my pointing their
legs, on my hands, and tying in my hands weapons at
and legs. Being shackled like that bent my me. I thought
back and it hurt. But the worst was the fear. I maybe they
didn’t know where they were taking me. The were going to
ride took a long time. I don’t know how long, kill me.
because I lost my sense of time. We reached
a dark area. I was taken out of the vehicle and the shackles were
removed. They forced me to walk in front of them, pointing their
weapons at me. I thought maybe they were going to kill me,
because no one knew what was going on with me and it would
be very easy to claim that I’d been shot trying to escape. They led
me left and right. We walked about 500 meters. They led me to a
checkpoint, which I later found was a-Dhahiriyah Checkpoint.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

We got to wing C. It was a catastrophe. They made us get out of

the posta the same way we went in, through a narrow opening,
and then the beating started again, with large wooden clubs.
There were a lot of guards there beating us, and they deliberately
knocked some prisoners to the ground. Later, on the wing, I met
two of the prisoners who were knocked down. There wasn’t a
single part of their body that wasn’t bleeding. They were literally
bleeding everywhere. There was also one prisoner from Tubas
who got his right arm broken. I was last to get out of the posta

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 Welcome to Hell

along with two others. Until then, every time I tried to get out,
they picked someone else. When one of the guards signaled me
to move forward, I had trouble getting through the opening
because I bent over so low according to their instructions. I heard
someone say in Hebrew (which I understand very well), "Kill him."
Then they put me back in the posta and all of them beat me with
clubs. I tried to protect myself with my hands, and then one of the
guards said several times that I was raising my hands because I
was going to attack him. I understood that they wanted me to try
to hit someone so they could hit me even more, but I was careful
not to react in any way.
From the testimony of Sami Khalili
41, a resident of Nablus who had been serving a prison sentence since 2003 and was
held in the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

They drove us to the Ohaley Kedar detention

One of the
facility near Be’er Sheva. Members of the
guards
Nachshon unit accompanied us with dogs that
stomped
tried to attack us, and they mocked and cursed
hard on my
us, calling us "ISIS" and "dogs." They also kicked
iron hand-
me. At Ohaley Keidar, we were taken out of the
cuffs with
vehicle and then attacked in a spot that was not
his shoes –
visible to the security cameras. They punched me
I screamed
all over my body and then sat me on the ground.
in pain.
One of the guards stomped hard on my iron
handcuffs with his shoes – I screamed in pain.
From the testimony of Firas Hassan
50, a father of four and resident of Hindaza in Bethlehem District, who was held in
the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

Several cases of Palestinian detainee deaths during transport from Gaza to Israel,
including transport for interrogation, have been reported since the start of the
war. The deaths were apparently the result of constant beatings by the soldiers
put in charge of transporting the detainees.96

96 See for example here; and here.

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

D. Sexual violence

The prohibition on sexual violence is derived from the prohibition on torture and
the duty to protect the human dignity of the prisoners. The International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia interpreted Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, which establishes the duty to protect – at all times – the human
dignity of the prisoners, as including a duty to refrain from sexual violence, in its
ruling in Delalic.97

The concept of "sexual violence" has been broadly interpreted in international

law. So, for instance, in Akayesu, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
ruled that sexual violence could take the form of humiliation or degradation of a
sexual nature. The tribunal also ruled that such acts could amount to torture, in
its meaning under international law.98 This definition has been adopted in other
cases as well.99

A similar prohibition is found in the Rome Statute, which states that when
systematically committed against the civilian population, sexual violence amounts
to a crime against humanity.100 Article 54 of the Statute101 prescribes that the ICC
Prosecutor should pay special attention to crimes and offenses of this kind.

Various testimonies revealed repeated use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of

severity, by soldiers or prison guards against Palestinian detainees as an additional
punitive measure. The witnesses described blows to the genitals and other body
parts of naked prisoners; the use of metal tools and batons to cause genital pain;

97 Prosecutor v Zdravko Mucic aka ‘Pavo’, Hazim Delic, Esad Landzo aka ‘Zenga’, Zejnil Delalic (Trial Judgment)
[1998] Int Crim Trib Former Yugosl ICTY IT-96-21-T Para 476).

98 The Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu (Trial Judgment) [1998] International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,
Trial Chamber I ICTR-96-4-T, Int Crim Trib Rwanda ICTR96-4-T para 688.

99 This definition has been adopted elsewhere. See, The Akayesu Trial Chamber’s definition of sexual violence
was affirmed by the Trial Chamber in Musema: The Prosecutor v Alfred Musema (Trial Judgment) [2000] Inter-
national Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Trial Chamber I ICTR-96-13-A, Int Crim Trib Rwanda ICTR-96-13-A para
965; See also Catharine A. MacKinnon, "ICTR’s Legacy on Sexual Violence: The Recognition of Rape as an Act
of Genocide: Prosecutor v Akayesu, "New England Journal of International and Comparative Law 211, (2007): 14.

100 Article 7(1)(g) of the Rome Statute.

101 Article 54(1)(b) of the Rome Statute; see also: Office of The Prosecutor Policy On Gender-Based Crimes,
"Crimes involving sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence" (2023).

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 Welcome to Hell

the photographing of naked prisoners; penises being grabbed; and strip-searches

for the sake of humiliation and degradation. The testimonies also reveal cases
of gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of prison guards or
soldiers. One particularly grave testimony, quoted at length below, reports the
attempted anal rape of a Palestinian detainee by several prison guards. Similar
incidents were mentioned in other testimonies.

On Sunday, 29 October 2023, around 6:00 P.M., we poured some

water on the floor of the cell to clean it and asked one of the
guards for a mop. It turned out that the IRF was raiding the wing
just then. They reached cell 10 and severely beat the prisoners
there and then one of them, who was masked, peaked through
the window in our cell door and saw the water on the floor. He
said, "You poured water to make us slip."

He yelled at us to go over to him one by one, and they tied our

hands behind our backs with zip ties and then forcibly dragged
each one of us into the corridor. From the
cell, I heard the crying and screaming of Two of them
detainees who were taken before me and stripped me
beaten. I was the last one left in the cell and like the other
I was shaking with fear. prisoners, and
then threw
Then they took me. Two of the IRF people me on top of
dragged me forcefully from the cell to the the other pris-
corridor and from there to the room that oners. One of
was used as a mess hall until 7 October. On them brought
the way, they cursed my mother and my a carrot and
sisters. When I got to the mess hall, I saw the tried to shove
other prisoners from my cell there. Everyone it in my anus.
was stark naked and bleeding. They threw
them one on top of the other. People were crying and shouting,
and the guards were yelling at them and cursing them and their
mothers. They forced us to curse our mothers, as well as Hamas
and Sinwar. They also forced us to kiss the Israeli flag and sing
the Israeli national anthem.

I was shaking with fear, and then they pounced on me. One of
them slapped me, and the other spat in my face and said to me in
Arabic: "Yihya Sinwar will die." They ordered me to repeat what he

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 Physical and psychological abuse Welcome to Hell

said. Two of them stripped me like the other prisoners, and then
threw me on top of the other prisoners. One of them brought a
carrot and tried to shove it in my anus. While he was trying to
shove the carrot in, some of the others filmed me on their cell
phones. I screamed in pain and terror. It went on like that for
about three minutes.

Then they shouted at us that we had two minutes to get dressed,

and left. I felt broken inside. Tears rolled down my face while I
was getting dressed (the witness choked up and burst into tears).
Terrible thoughts went through my head. Then they took us back
to the room. When we got back to the cell, we were still in shock,
crying silently. No one spoke. We couldn’t look at each other. I
asked myself: "What happened? Why is this happening to us?"
From the testimony of A.H., a resident of Hebron | Full testimony

We were taken to a room which had a lot of clothes, shoes, rings

and watches scattered in it. We were stripped naked and even had
to take off our underwear. We were searched with a hand-held
metal detector. They forced us to spread our legs and then sit half
crouching. Then they started hitting us on our private parts with
the detector. They rained blows down on us. Then they ordered
us to salute an Israeli flag that was hanging on the wall.  

When one of them ordered me to salute the flag, I refused. Then

two members of the IRF (Initial Response Force) unit beat me
all over my body. One kneed me in the stomach. I fell down and
threw up, and then the other kicked me in a private part of my
body. I was in terrible pain. […] When they stopped the beating, I
started getting dressed, but one of the guards hit me every time
I put on another piece of clothing. When I put the jacket on, he
asked if I’d had enough beating.
From the testimony of Sami Khalili
41, from Nablus, who had been serving a prison sentence since 2003 and was held in
the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

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 Welcome to Hell

Then one of the guards grabbed me roughly by the neck and led
me 500 meters to a waiting room. On the way I was hit again and
again on the back, cursed and humiliated, and I felt I might pass
out. […] They threw me in a filthy waiting room with two other
detainees. From there, they later took me to get strip-searched.
They stripped me while my eyes were still covered, beating me in
the process. They said, "You’re Hamas" and hit different parts of
my body while I was completely naked.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron, who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

They put us in a very small, empty waiting room. There were 13

of us, and we sat crammed in there for many hours. Then the
guards started taking us out one by one to
the deputy warden’s office. They conducted a Every time I
humiliating strip search on all of us, and then tried to move
the Nachshon unit people, who specialize in away from
prison transfers, arrived. […] they took us to a the dog, the
bus. On the way, one of the guards pushed me guard would
hard and I crashed into a prisoner in front of kick me hard
me. I couldn’t say anything to him, because in the legs,
we were forbidden from talking to each other. and another
Each Nachshon member held a detainee, and guard would
another held a dog and let it attack us. The grab me by
dog had a metal muzzle, and the guard kept the testicles.
loosening the leash and then pulling it back.
It was very frightening. Every time I tried to move away from the
dog, the guard would kick me hard in the legs, and another guard
would grab me by the testicles and push me forward hard while
swearing at me. I was very angry and felt extremely humiliated
in front of the other detainees.
From the testimony of Thaer Halahleh
45, a father of four and resident of Kharas in Hebron District, who was held in the
Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

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5.
Deprivation of adequate
living conditions

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5. Deprivation of adequate living conditions

The duty to provide adequate living conditions in

international law

The obligation to provide adequate living conditions during detention or

imprisonment is enshrined in several international conventions, all of which
explicitly prohibit torture and cruel or inhuman punishment. The ICCPR enshrines
a general prohibition on torture and cruel and inhuman punishment, and imposes
an obligation on states to treat people deprived of their liberty "with humanity
and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person."102

The Mandela Rules, which govern all issues concerning the prison population
and imposes a general duty to ensure punishment is not cruel or degrading.
The document details what rights prisoners have and what duties states carry
with respect to basic standards to ensure minimal prison conditions. The Rules
were adopted by the UN in the late 1950s.103 In 2015, the title was changed to the
Nelson Mandela Rules. The duties imposed in the Mandela Rules include providing
adequate means to maintain hygiene and cleanliness; prepared, quality food of
nutritional value, in sufficient quantities and at set intervals; drinking water at all
times; access to a bed and clean bedding; appropriate clothing and the required
amount of clean clothes. The Rules also stipulate a duty to give prisoners an hour
for physical exercise and fresh air outside the cell and to maintain prisoners’ health.

Alongside these provisions, Palestinian prisoners and detainees also come under
the provisions of international law as protected persons living under occupation,
as noted above. The Fourth Geneva Convention establishes several obligations
and rules concerning the living conditions the state must provide to protected
persons in its custody.104

102 Art. 10 (1) of the ICCPR.

103 The Rules were adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treat-
ment of Offenders in 1955 and approved in July 1957.

104 See, Art. 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which stipulates an absolute prohibition on transferring
protected persons from the occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power. Domestic law also con-
tains provisions regarding living and incarceration conditions for persons in its custody. Sec. 9 of the Arrest Law
and the Regulations enacted pursuant to it, stipulate, among other things, a right to an "excursion hour," and
a daily walk in the open air; clean bed, mattress and blankets; a change of clothes; a towel and basic hygiene

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

Israel’s obligations with respect to providing adequate living conditions apply

to Palestinians held in administrative detention, detainees facing criminal
proceedings and convicted inmates.105 In this context, alongside Article 32 of
the Fourth Geneva Convention, which places a full ban on torture and any
other intentional infliction of suffering on protected persons, Article 37 of the
Convention stipulates that protected persons facing criminal proceedings should
be treated humanely and held in humane conditions.106

As shown below, the testimonies reveal Israel is systematically and brazenly

violating its obligations under international law and employing prohibited
measures: sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme cold, withholding of food,
showers and drinking water, starvation, and hygiene conditions that are unfit
for humans and result in the spread of diseases. All of these amount to cruel and
inhuman treatment, which is prohibited under all the aforesaid instruments.107

items; adequate medical care if necessary; a shower that is separated from the toilet and sink; reasonable light-
ing and ventilation in the cell; adequate living space, and more. Sec. 11 of the Prisons Ordinance stipulates that
prisoners shall be held in appropriate conditions that do not harm their health and dignity. The Court ruled this
is a self-evident fundamental right (HCJ 221/80 Darwish v. IPS, 1980). A 2012 amendment to the Ordinance de-
fined adequate conditions as: proper sanitary conditions; conditions that allow maintaining personal hygiene;
bed, mattress and blankets; reasonable lighting and ventilation. The Ordinance also addresses personal effects,
food and medical care (all of which are discussed in detail in the following sections). The Prison Regulations
(Incarceration Conditions) define specifics: a window in the prison cell or alternative ventilation in windowless
cells; a toilet and a sink in the cell, with the toilet separated from the living quarters to maintain privacy; shower
separate from the toilet; a shower that provides hot water daily; lighting that allows reading; table, shelves and
seats in each cell; a supply of soap and toilet paper in reasonable quantities; washing of bedding at a frequency
that ensures their cleanliness (discussed in the overcrowding case, supra note 43).

105 See, Arts. 76 and 37 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

106 "Protected persons who are confined pending proceedings or serving a sentence involving loss of liberty,
shall during their confinement be humanely treated."

107 After the media reported in December 2023 that detainees at the Sde Teiman facility were being kept in
fenced enclosures, blindfolded and handcuffed for most of the day, the IDF released an update that a compe-
tent committee would examine incarceration conditions, the treatment of detainees, the proper management
of prison facilities and their compliance with the provisions of the law and the rules of international law: Yaniv
Kubovich and Bar Peleg, The Chief of the General Staff Appointed a Committee to Examine the Conditions of
Confinement of Gazan Detainees in the Sde Teiman and Other Facilities, See Haaretz, 28 May 2024 (Hebrew).
For an English language report, see here.

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A. Absence and denial of medical treatment

Several provisions of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention,108

stipulate the state’s obligation to provide prisoners with adequate medical care,
routine medical examinations and the medicines they need. Article 24 of the Body
of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or
Imprisonment109 establishes the right to receive medical treatment in prison as
needed, along with an obligation to perform medical examinations upon admission
into a new prison facility. The Mandela Rules also address the issue of health,
stipulating an obligation to meet medical standards and maintain prisoners’ health.

Israel has an obligation and a responsibility to care for the health of all persons in its
custody. Nevertheless, many witnesses said that prison guards and medical staff at
the detention facilities and prisons refrained from providing essential medical care
or refused to do so, even in life-threatening situations. Various witnesses stated
medical staff told them they were following the instructions they were given.

Criminal neglect and indifference

The reckless, cruel attitude that prison authorities, guards, and to no lesser extent,
medical crews, showed for the lives and health of inmates came fully across in the
prisoners’ testimonies. With the exception of a handful of cases, prison guards as
well as medics and medical teams chose to turn a blind eye at best, and lend a
hand and cooperate with denying medical treatment, at worst.

All medical treatments we used to get in prison also stopped.

They even tried to extort information about plans to protest
the punishment policy from prisoners, in exchange for medical
treatment.
From the testimony of N.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

108 Thus, Art. 91 of the Fourth Geneva Convention requires the provision of access to medical examinations
and treatment. Additionally, Art. 92 of the Convention states routine medical inspections are to be held month-
ly and include an examination by a physician of inmates’ health, including their state of nutrition, whether they
suffer from any diseases and whether they are receiving proper medical care. Art. 76 mandates that the duty
to provide medical care applies to detainees, prisoners, administrative detainees and protected persons serving
sentences for criminal offenses.

109 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, supra note 25.

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

Because of the beating, I couldn’t speak normally and had to

whisper in the ears of the other detainees. I got out of bed only
to go to the bathroom, and needed another detainee to help me
get there. I didn’t leave the cell or smoke. That whole week at
Etzion, they refused to let me see a doctor or give me any medical
treatment.
From the testimony of A.A., Hebron District | Full testimony

From our cell, I could hear the screams of

another prisoner – according to the prisoners The guards
he was from the town of Birqin – who was in would say to
the cell next to ours. He was screaming in me, "He’s still
pain, and no one was treating him [...]. I would breathing,"
bring sick prisoners to the door of the cell, and I would
some of them unconscious, so they could be take the
treated. [The guards] would say to me, "He’s prisoner
still breathing," and I would take the prisoner back inside
back inside without treatment. I tried to use without
the fact that I speak English to ask them for treatment.
things for the prisoners, but they don’t know
what humanity is.
From the testimony of Khaled Abu ‘Ara
24, a resident of ‘Akabah in Tubas District, who was held in the Negev Prison (Ketziot)

When someone got sick, they didn’t get treatment. Every now
and then, a medic would come and ask the prisoners about pain
or illnesses, but he didn’t really check us. He just talked to us
through a small opening in the cell door and asked the prisoner,
"What’s wrong?" and then he would suggest a drink of water or
give him paracetamol. In the last week or 10 days of my detention,
the medic didn’t come at all.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

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In another testimony, a detainee with diabetes described being denied medical

treatment, while the medical staff were aware of his condition and the threat to his
life as a result of poor treatment and delayed or denied administration of medicine.

While I was in Negev, I attended an appeal filed I really did

on my behalf on Zoom. The lawyer managed use toothpaste
to get two months off my detention. I used to raise my
the opportunity and complained to the blood sugar
judge about the policy of leaving us hungry level a bit.
and thirsty and holding back on medication
and treatments. I told him I had hypoglycemia and was forced
to eat toothpaste. He was surprised when he heard that. I really
did use toothpaste to raise my blood sugar level a bit. I didn't
actually eat it, but I put it in my mouth to absorb some sugar.
The court decided I should be taken to a clinic and after three
days, they really did take me. When the doctor saw my yellowish
face, exhaustion and severe weight loss, he called the officer
responsible for the prison in front of me and said that if I stayed
in that condition, my life would be in danger. But the prison
administration didn't care. After the visit to the clinic, they beat
me again. The doctor gave me medication for my stomach, and
about diabetes he said it wasn't under his purview.
From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi
58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons
Full testimony

In another case, medications were confiscated from a prisoner who somehow

managed to bring them with him when he was arrested.

I sat on the gravel with the other detainees until evening, while
the soldiers beat them on and off. They didn’t give us any food. I
asked to go to the restroom and they allowed me, but they didn’t
allow the young guys. They hit anyone for making the slightest
move. I felt familiar symptoms of my blood sugar and heart rate
rising. I asked the soldiers to let me take medication I brought
with me, but they refused.

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

I was afraid the soldiers would take revenge on us for what

happened in the communities by the Gaza border, and that I’d
never go home. The soldiers even refused to
give us water, which really scared me because I was really
of my medical condition. Towards evening, it scared.
grew cold and I felt my limbs going numb, as During those
if the blood was freezing in my veins. In the two hours,
evening, we were transferred to the Etzion I asked the
detention facility in a military vehicle. They soldiers for
let us out in a yard with coarse gravel and the inhaler
forced us to kneel on it. I had in my
bag, but they
We weren’t allowed to move for two hours. My refused. They
knees hurt a lot. The soldiers walked between wouldn’t
us and violently shoved us. My throat was give me my
dry, and I felt generally weak with thirst and diabetes
because they didn’t let me take my medication. medication,
I was really scared. During those two hours, either.
I asked the soldiers for the inhaler I had in
my bag, but they refused. They wouldn’t give me my diabetes
medication, either. […] they came and told me they were taking me
to the infirmary. Four Israeli Prison Service (IPS) people escorted
me, but instead of reaching an infirmary, they suddenly put me
in a room, pushed me down to the floor and started beating me
and kicking my legs. Then they took me back to the cell, without
even seeing a doctor. That whole time, I was given one diabetes
pill once a day and didn’t get the other medication I need.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

In some cases, medics and other medical staff admitted to prisoners that they
received instructions not to provide medical treatment and medication to
inmates, even when the treatment in question was life-saving. The most prisoners
received by way of medical treatment was, in the majority of cases, a tablet of
acetaminophen (paracetamol) and nothing more.

That’s how it was until the war broke out on 7 October 2023. Then

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the prison administration came and told us it was forbidden to

give medical treatment to "security" prisoners, except ones who
had diabetes or high blood pressure.
From the testimony of ‘Atef ‘Awawdeh
a resident of Deir Samit, Hebron District, who was held in the Ofer, Negev (Ketziot)
and Nafha prisons

The medic came and tried to check the pulse of the unconscious
prisoner through the window in the door. He apologized to us
and said there was no medicine, hospital or clinic. He gave me a
paracetamol pill and left.
From the testimony of A.H., Hebron District | Full testimony

The nurse told us the new guidelines were that we only get
medical treatment in life-threatening situations. That’s why
they gave Tylenol for everything. In our cell, for example, there
were seven prisoners who suffered from rashes and pimples.
They were itchy all the time and suffered a lot, but they got no
ointment or treatment. Some prisoners had scabies.
From the testimony of S.B., East Jerusalem | Full testimony

A medic
Since 7 October, the infirmaries have stopped would come
operating. They reopened the infirmary in with the
the last month of my detention, but they guards
didn’t let more than two prisoners a day in, during roll
out of 1,300 prisoners in Wing C, where I was. call and bring
These are people who hadn’t gotten medical one Tylenol
treatment for five months. A medic would for all ten
come with the guards during roll call and prisoners in
bring one Tylenol for all ten prisoners in the cell.
the cell. In other words, the treatment for
everyone’s ailments was one Tylenol pill.
From the testimony of Z.A., East Jerusalem | Full testimony

Because my medication was taken away at Etzion, I didn’t have

any during my first two days at Ofer. I started feeling dizzy and

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

unbalanced, and had trouble walking. I asked a guard to get my

medication, and he answered in Arabic: "Die." I banged on the cell
door in protest, and an officer and a nurse came and told me they
would bring me medicine, which they did later. They said only
heart, hypertension and diabetes patients would get medication.
From the testimony of F.J., Hebron District | Full testimony

Amputation due to torture and inadequate medical treatment

The denial of medical care and improper treatment of patients often led to horrific
outcomes, causing long-term injuries. One example can be found in the testimony
of a prisoner held in the Sde Teiman military detention facility, whose leg had to
be amputated as a result of injuries caused by soldier violence, harsh incarceration
conditions, inadequate treatment, and indifference and negligence on the part of
the facility’s personnel.

[They] led us to what I think were warehouses that they converted

into detention facilities. They forced us to kneel in a prostrate
position on the ground until the evening. Then we were taken to
an interrogation center. […] During the interrogation, they beat us
with a stick and kicked us, especially in the back and neck area.
There were about 80 of us there. They kept us naked, in the same
position until midnight. It was very cold. […] [then they] put us all on
a truck – about 80 people piled one on top of the other. We weren’t
allowed to move or talk. If the soldiers sensed any movement, they
beat us. I felt that they’d injured my left leg.

[…] Then they transferred us to another truck, tied our hands

behind our backs and took us to an interrogation center that I
understood was inside Israel. I felt weak and lost sensation in
my legs, but I didn’t move so they wouldn’t beat me. […] On the
first day in detention, we were kept on gravel all day long, with
our hands and feet tied. I only slept two hours at night. […] Two
days later, I felt pain in my leg and slight swelling. I asked the
prison guard to get someone to check my leg. A soldier came and
took a picture of my leg, twice, to show the doctor, but she never

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got back to me. I was in pain for a week and had a high fever. The
soldiers took me in a minibus to a hospital in the interrogation
center, and on the way, they hit my injured leg with batons and
with their guns and stepped on my legs. I screamed in pain. A
soldier asked me: ‘Which of your legs is hurt?’ and started hitting
me hard on that leg, brutally. Even when they
took me off the minibus, they kept hitting me
"You have to
on the leg and head. Pus started oozing out
choose: Your
of the wound […] When we arrived, I waited
leg or your
about two hours for the doctor, on the ground,
life. It’s your
blindfolded with my hands and feet tied. Then
choice."
they put me on the bed and took off my clothes, still blindfolded
and with my hands and feet tied. They put me in a diaper. I passed
out. I didn’t even feel them examining me. When I woke up,
someone told me: "You’ve had surgery." I was still blindfolded. I
didn’t know if the person talking to me was a doctor or a soldier.
I wasn’t given any information about the surgery. I asked them
how my leg was doing, and they said it was fine. They gave me
intravenous painkillers and did a glucose test. Three days later,
I had another operation. They said it was to clean and disinfect
the leg. I was in a lot of pain and very hungry, but I couldn’t say
anything. I stayed there for about 10 days, and they just changed
my bandage. I looked underneath the blindfold and saw bones
and a bandage. Then they took me in an ambulance, blindfolded
and handcuffed. Some soldiers got into the ambulance with me
and they hit my injured leg the whole way. I was in a lot of pain. I
didn’t shout because they beat those who shout more.

When I arrived at the hospital, I heard them saying ‘Shiba in

Tel Hashomer.’ A vascular doctor came and told me: "Your leg
needs to be amputated. We need to consult an orthopedist." The
soldiers laughed and made fun of me: "Cut off his leg." […] When
the orthopedist came and examined me, he told me: "You have to
choose: Your leg or your life. It’s your choice." It was the hardest
decision of my life, deciding to have my leg amputated. I was
shocked, especially since I was alone and there was no one from
the family with me to consult.

I understood from the soldiers that the operation would take

five hours. I was taken into surgery handcuffed and blindfolded.

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 Deprivation of adequate Welcome
living conditions
to Hell

It was on 19 or 20 March. I don’t remember I lost a

anything after that until I woke up and asked leg for no
for a drink of water. They brought me water and reason. I
then immediately took me in an ambulance, didn’t have
with oxygen and blood transfusions, to the any medical
military hospital. I think it was in Sde Teiman, a condition.
detention facility in the Negev. When I got to the This only
military hospital, they hooked me up to an IV and happened
changed my diaper. I had the same bandage on because of
my leg for five days, and it was changed only after the medical
that. Then they took me back to the detention negligence
facility. I kept hearing dogs barking there. It in the
was meant to harass us. No one checked me at detention
the facility. The soldiers punished me twice for facility.
asking to sleep. They said it wasn’t allowed, and
the punishment was standing on one leg for half an hour.

After the operation, they didn’t beat me anymore, but I was in

severe pain and even though I asked for painkillers, they didn’t give
me any. There was very little food. Three small slices of bread, a
cucumber and an apple. The soldiers would take me to the shower.
They would pick me up and sometimes I would slip out of their
hands onto the ground. I think they dropped me on purpose.

It went on like that until I was released on 15 April 2024. […]

It was about 2:00 A.M. They handcuffed me, blindfolded me
and ordered me to walk, on my own, without crutches or a
wheelchair. I started hopping. I hopped four times and fell to
the ground, and then I started screaming. Then the soldiers
put me in an ambulance and sometime later, I found myself at
Kerem Shalom Crossing. […] Now I’m living in a tent with my
children and my wife near the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
Conditions here are very difficult, with no electricity or water.
I’m emotionally very unwell, a broken man. I cry for myself and
over what happened to me. I lost a leg for no reason. I didn’t
have any medical condition. This only happened because of the
medical negligence in the detention facility. Now I can’t work,
either, and I’m stuck inside the tent all day.
From the testimony of Sufian Abu Saleh
43, a resident of ‘Abasan al-Kabirah in Khan Yunis District, the Gaza Strip, who was
held in the Sde Teiman detention facility | Full testimony

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B. Food deprivation and starvation

The state has a duty to provide individuals in its custody with food in reasonable
quantities, both as part of its general obligation to ensure their health and pursuant
to specific provisions of international law.110 In that regard, the Fourth Geneva
Convention establishes the obligation to provide food of a quantity, quality and
variety sufficient to maintain prisoners’ health and to ensure their condition does
not deteriorate due to nutritional deficiencies. The Convention also stipulates that
prisoners should be allowed to purchase food in a canteen and keep cookware to
prepare food independently, in addition to the food supplied by prison authorities.111

The reduced amounts of food provided to Palestinian prisoners and limited calorie
intake are part of the new policy declared by the Minister of National Security when
he first took office. The events of 7 October provided the necessary excuse for the
minister to execute his well-laid plan.112 As the minister himself proudly stated, he
was the person who instructed the IPS to refrain from providing Palestinian prisoners
with the minimum amount of food required, and to give them less food and of
poorer quality than what criminal prisoners receive. The minister even made sure to
publicize the fact that he issued orders to reduce the amount of food further, once
he found out that the daily calories provided to the prisoners were slightly above
the "minimum required threshold," though in practice, and as emerges from the
testimonies, the IPS is far from supplying even the meager menu it put in place.113

110 On the duty to provide healthy, quality food in sufficient quantities, see also Rule 22 of the Mandela Rules.

111 See Arts. 87 and 89 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

112 Upon taking office, Minister Ben Gvir declared his number one priority for the IPS was downgrading prison
conditions for Palestinian prisoners (see: Meir Turgeman, "Acting IPS Commissioner Presents: ‘A Revolution
per Minister Ben Gvir‫׳‬s Policy: ‘Downgrading Terrorists’ Prison Conditions: No. 1 Priority," Ynet, 24 January 2024
(Hebrew). On 9 November 2023, Minister Ben Gvir held a meeting to discuss the budgetary implications of the
Gaza war for the IPS, including the cost of food for Palestinian prisoners: "At the conclusion of the discussion,
the minister ordered to consider changes to security prisoners’ menu". Accordingly, the logistics division chief
made changes to the menu which entered into effect on 1 December 2023, per the Commissioner’s orders of 16
October 2023. The minister’s order to deny Palestinian prisoners meat products was explained as follows: ‘Our
hostages in Gaza are suffering from hunger... As far as I’m concerned, they [Palestinian prisoners] will get the
minimum we are obligated to give them." (see, Meir Turgeman, "Ben Gvir v. IPS: Change Nukhba Terrorists’
Menu", Ynet, 31 December 2023, and a similar English language report available here; see also, posts on the
Minister’s Twitter account here and here (Hebrew). See also, Josh Breiner, "Israel Reduces Food for Palestinian
Security Prisoners, Conceals Data, Sources Say", Haaretz, 26 June 2024.

113 On 26 June 2024, as aforementioned, in an unusual break from protocol, the Minister of National Security
sent the Association for Civil Rights in Israel a separate response entitled "Withholding Information from Pe-
titioners", as part of HCJ 2858/24 Civil Rights Association et al. v. the Minister of National Security et al. (here-
inafter: the food deprivation case). The letter notes that the minister’s response to the petition had not been
submitted due to differences between his office and the High Court department of the State Attorney’s Office,

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

The state’s response to the pending petition regarding food deprivation114 does
not specifically cite legal provisions pertaining to Palestinian prisoners or any
other legal source for determining what food will be provided to prisoners or the
average required caloric intake per person.115 Instead, the state’s response relied on
an opinion submitted by the IPS South District dietitian and another administrative
official (the head of the Food Branch) concerning the existing menu, which was
released just three days before the scheduled hearing in the petition and prepared
retroactively.116 Furthermore, as there is no law in place permitting the minister to
deal with the issue, he has no authority to interfere in the menus provided by the
IPS or to influence them, especially when his actions target a single group with
the intention of harming and starving them.

The witnesses spoke about the extreme hunger they were forced to endure
throughout their incarceration in various facilities and the poor quality of the food,
which was often undercooked or past its expiry date.

There was also a clear policy of starvation. Most of the day we were
hungry and thirsty. We were given very little food. They would

and therefore, the minister had found it appropriate to provide his response separately to make the following
clarifications: "5. To avoid hiding information, I wish to apprise that, indeed, no starvation is taking place and all
claims made in the petition are false. At the same time, my policy is indeed to downgrade conditions provided
to security prisoners to the minimum required by law, including in terms of food and calories. There is nothing
wrong with that – on the contrary, security prisoners receive and should receive less than criminal prisoners.
6. I will also note that I have been informed that the current menu provides 200 calories above the average
required by some of the male population, and accordingly, I instructed the IPS to present to me within 15 days
an updated menu with the exact amount of calories and no extra calories" (supra note 69).

114 Para. 4 of the state’s response to the food deprivation case states: "On 8 October 2023, the IPS Commis-
sioner led a discussion regarding the incarceration conditions of security prisoners, at the conclusion of which
she ordered a downgrading of conditions [...] It is noted that this order was issued in accordance with the policy
of the Minister of National Security. In terms of food, a decision was made to strip security prisoners of the
privilege of accessing canteens; and cookware and appliances were removed from security wings. Following
on this, a decision was made for the IPS to provide food to the prisoners following the pattern of three meals a
day, rather than independent cooking. It should be noted that the issue of the operation of security wings and
the incarceration conditions of security prisoners, including the matter of the food provided to them, has also
been brought before the Minister of National Security at the outbreak of the war" (see, below, also para. 9 of
the state’s response to the food deprivation case).

115 The Statement of Response to the food deprivation petition refers to sections 80 and 80a of the Prisons
Ordinance [new version] 5732-1971, which enshrine the general powers granted to the IPS Commissioner.

116 The report relies on an Australian study done among "high-risk" prisoners who were deemed not to re-
quire the same amount of calories as active people due to their sedentary life in prison. In the current case
of Palestinian prisoners, this adds insult to injury, since not only are prisoners denied food, but they are also
denied movement almost entirely, as outdoor, open-air time outside cells has been eliminated. For the report
appended to the state’s response, see here.

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bring 12 inmates an amount that was barely 50 grams of

enough for two. We were given only two meals yogurt
a day. For example, each detainee would get six for every
slices of bread for the entire day. The first meal detainee and
was between 12:00 and 1:00 P.M.: about one one pepper
kilo of rice for 12 detainees, which is roughly 3 for every
spoonfuls each. The rice was only half-cooked. eight people,
Some days, every detainee would get two small or sometimes
sausages or one regular one along with the rice. a cucumber
One time they brought us chicken schnitzel, for every two
but that didn't happen again. They told us they detainees
didn't want to waste protein on us. Twice, we instead.
were given a slice of turkey breast. The second
meal was between 3:00 and 5:00 P.M.: 50 grams of yogurt for every
detainee and one pepper for every eight people, or sometimes a
cucumber for every two detainees instead. We didn't get anything
sweet except carrots, sometimes, which I saved and ate at night. It
was a treat, like eating knafeh. Sometimes they gave us one tomato
for every two detainees. We got sausages or other kinds of meat
only three times a week, and on the other four days, there was no
meat at all. Sometimes we were given an egg. We wanted meat so
badly that when there wasn't any, we’d put the rice between two
slices of bread and imagine we were eating meat.
From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi
58, a resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

The food was terrible, both in quantity and quality. We were given
portions that wouldn’t satisfy anybody. Most of the time the
food was rotten – for instance, the eggs and yogurt. Once, when a
detainee in the cell next to ours asked to swap his yogurt because
the expiration date had passed, they punished all the inmates in
the cell: they set dogs on them, beat them with clubs, dragged
them to the bathroom and beat them up. The next day, I could
still see their blood on the floor.
From the testimony of Hisham Saleh
a resident of a-Sawiyah in Nablus District, who was held in Ofer Prison | Full testimony

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

Imagine, eight prisoners sitting around a small plate of rice.

There isn’t enough food, there’s no attention, no medical
treatment, and there are raids almost every day.
From the testimony of Khaled Abu‘ Ara
24, a resident of ‘Akabah in Tubas District, who was held in the Negev Prison (Ketziot)

Canteen ban and conf iscation of cookware

Until 7 October, prisoners would purchase supplies in the canteen and cook in
their cells to supplement and improve upon the food they were provided by prison
authorities. After 7 October, this right was denied and cookware and previously
purchased food products were confiscated, leaving prisoners entirely dependent
on the small amount of poor food provided by the prison kitchen.

The prison administration closed the canteen where the

detainees purchase products. It was a punitive measure. The
administration also forbade the prisoners to prepare their
own food, and started providing our meals. Breakfast was two
teaspoons of labneh and slices of standard bread, which weren’t
enough for a prisoner. I was hungry all the time. Breakfast wasn’t
enough. Dinner was also a small amount of cooked legumes and
a small plate of rice with a piece of sausage.
From the testimony of Muhammad Kara’wi
31, a father of two and resident of Nur Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarm District,
who was held in Ofer Prison

After 7 October 2023, we were banned from

I was so
cooking as part of the punishment policy.
hungry I
Instead, the prison administration provided
tried to
spoiled food, like moldy bread. We were banned
scrape mold
from baking pita bread, and we only got sliced
off bread
bread. When we got chicken breast, it was
and eat it. I
white and undercooked. The rice was sticky and
also had to
inedible. The eggs were blue and smelly. I was
eat the eggs.
so hungry I tried to scrape mold off bread and
eat it. I also had to eat the eggs.
From the testimony of N.H., a resident of East Jerusalem | Full testimony

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 Welcome to Hell

Extreme weight loss

The policy of starvation affected prisoners’ health and physical shape. The
profound lack of food resulted in significant weight loss, sometimes amounting
to tens of kilograms.

When I was arrested on 1 March 2022, I weighed 91 kg. When I was

released, on 15 March 2024, I weighed myself and was surprised
to find out I weighed only 55 kg! I lost tens of kilos because of the
poor quality and small quantities of food we were given after 7
October.
From the testimony of ‘Imad a-Din Abu al-Heija
36, a father of four and resident of a-Sawiyah in Nablus District, who was held in the
Negev Prison (Ketziot), and before the war in Megiddo Prison | Full testimony

When they weighed me at Ofer Prison at the beginning of the

detention, I weighed 89 kg. When they released me, I immediately
went to the hospital in Ramallah, and there they found my weight
had dropped to 62 kg – 27 kg less. My blood iron dropped from 15.3
to 11.8, and my bowel problems were worse. After the tests at the
hospital, I went home to complete the treatment.
From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi
58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

During my detention I lost 10 kg; others lost 40. Before prison, I

weighed 70 kg, and now I weigh 60.
From the testimony of Muhammad Salah
27, a resident of Burqah in Nablus District, who was held in Megiddo Priso
Full testimony

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

C. Hygiene, cutting off the water supply and cold

The duty to provide appropriate hygienic conditions applies to all prisoners and
detainees held in state custody. Art. 85 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, for instance,
stipulates, among other things, a duty to provide inmates with enough cleaning
supplies to keep their persons and cells clean. The Convention specifies that inmates
are entitled to a supply of water and soap for bathing and washing clothes.

The Mandela Rules also impose a duty to provide adequate means to maintain
hygiene and cleanliness, including clean clothes, in proper condition and enough
to allow changing and washing clothes as frequently as necessary to maintain
hygiene and health.117

Witnesses spoke of being forced to live in filth during their incarceration, as a

result of the blanket confiscation of bathing, cleaning and washing supplies, the
water supply cut off in cells, and the limited access to shower facilities that were
not meant for such a large number of prisoners in the first place. Some of the
witnesses said that since running water in the cells was cut off and access to the
yard was denied, they were unable to wash and dry the only set of clothes they
had. This meant that even when prisoners did manage to wash their clothes, they
were forced to put them back on wet. Some witnesses said they did not change
clothes for many weeks. Witnesses also spoke about hot water being cut off in
the showers, despite the cold weather. Testimonies indicate prisoners went for
weeks without being able to shower. All of these turned the cells into a sanitary
hazard and made them unfit for human habitation. These conditions led to the
development and spread of diseases and various health problems: lesions, pimples,
fungal infections, scabies, hemorrhoids and more.

The cell stayed dirty and smelly. There were a lot of bed bugs and
insects. After three days, we were given a mop just once, and we
could wash the cell. […] We felt our bodies were rotting with dirt.
Some of us had rashes. There was no hygiene. There was no soap,

117 See on this, Mandela Rules, Rules 15-16, which prescribe the duty to supply adequate means for maintaining
hygiene and cleanliness; Rule 18(1) on the obligation to provide toilet paper and water for personal hygiene;
Rule 18(2), which refers specifically to the obligation to allow men to shave; Rule 19 on the right to bedding and
clean sheets; Rule 17(1) on the obligation to supply climate-appropriate clothing; Rule 17(2) on the obligation to
provide clothes, in clean and proper condition and enough to allow changing and washing clothes as frequently
as necessary to maintain hygiene.

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 Welcome to Hell

shampoo, hair brushes or nail clippers. After a We felt our

month and a half, we got shampoo for the first bodies were
time. There were no cleaning supplies either, rotting with
and it was impossible to clean the cell or the dirt. Some of
toilet, or to wash clothes. us had rashes.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

Two months after I got there, the hot water wasn’t always on.
Until the 60th day, I unfortunately showered once every two
weeks outside the rooms. There were ten showers, and each
prisoner was given five minutes to shower. We showered without
soap and there were no towels either.
From the testimony of Z.A., East Jerusalem | Full testimony

We were only allowed to shower once in 20 days, and even then

there were no soap or cleaning supplies. We couldn't wash our
clothes either, and they stank unbearably. We couldn't clean or
wash the cell. After we asked again and again for 20 days, they
finally gave us the end of a squeegee mop, without the stick, to
clean the cell.
From the testimony of Musa 'Aasi
58, a father of five and resident of Beit Liqya in Ramallah District, who was held
in the Etzion detention facility and in the Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons
Full testimony

About the showers, until the war, I was in a cell that didn’t have
a shower, but the shared showers had hot water, and there was
enough time to shower. The cell I was transferred to at the
beginning of the war had a shower, but by then, the hot water had
been cut off the cells. The prison administration provided hot
water only in the shared showers, where all of us were allowed to
go together for an hour once every three days – so each prisoner
had a maximum of three minutes to shower. They also reduced
the number of stalls in the shared showers from 12 to six and

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

removed the partitions between them. Inmates from 20 cells

shared these six showers, and without the partitions, there was
no privacy at all, and some people refused to shower because of it.
From the testimony of S.B., East Jerusalem | Full testimony

Toilet tanks had running water for only one hour a day, forcing prisoners to wait and
hold off on toilet use for hours and sometimes days. This also led to various medical
conditions. When prisoners had to use the toilet while the water was cut off, all the
inmates in the cell were forced to suffer for hours from the stench and filth.

The toilet in the cell was clogged. The first time we used it, the
water overflowed from the toilet bowl to where we were sitting.
We asked the guard to do something about it, but he just said,
"Great," and left. We had no cleaning supplies, either. […] we could
only access them during the yard break.
From the testimony of Muhammad Salah
27, a resident of Burqah, Nablus District, held in Megiddo Prison | Full testimony

Because of the terrible hygiene conditions, The poor diet,

the restricted access to water, the in terms of
withholding of hot water, and the fact quality and
that we were forbidden to wash or change quantity, also
clothes, some of the detainees developed exacerbated
skin conditions. Some also suffered from the constipation
hemorrhoids caused by the lack of water and caused
and the fact that we could only use the toilet detainees to
when there was running water. The poor develop
diet, in terms of quality and quantity, also intestinal
exacerbated the constipation and caused diseases.
detainees to develop intestinal diseases.

[…] The cold water taps in the rooms ran only one hour a day,
from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. You could only use the toilet – which
is inside the cell – during that hour, because otherwise, it was
impossible to flush. But sometimes people couldn’t hold it in and
it was disgusting, causing a stench and bad hygiene conditions.
From the testimony of Z.A., East Jerusalem | Full testimony

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 Welcome to Hell

Not enough drinking water

Article 89 of the Geneva Convention requires that prisoners be provided with

drinking water in sufficient quantity. Rule 20(2) of the Mandela Rules stipulates
an identical duty to provide prisoners with access to drinking water at all times.
Cutting off running water to cells limited the amount of drinking water available
to prisoners and impeded them from maintaining personal hygiene.

They also cut off the water supply to the rooms and only turned
it on for one hour a day. We had one water bottle for all seven
of us, which we filled up so we could drink when there was no
water in the tap. The bottle wasn’t enough for all of us, so we also
cleaned out garbage bags and filled them with water. We drank
from them and also used them to clean the toilets. Because of the
water shortage, we went to the toilet as little as possible, which
gave some people stomach aches.
From the testimony of Firas Hassan
50, a father of four and resident of Hindaza, Bethlehem District, who was held in
the Negev Prison(Ketziot) | Full testimony

We only had running water in the cell for one hour a day. We had
to fill garbage bags with water so we’d have something to drink
the rest of the day. Of course, when they found the bags, they
made holes in them.
From the testimony of Sami Khalili
41, a resident of Nablus who had been serving a prison sentence since 2003 and was
held in Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

Exposure to the cold and open windows

The spirit of Minister Ben Gvir's directives to the IPS seems to have been
translated, at times, into "creative"ways to abuse prisoners. For instance, guards
in various prison facilities took the windowpanes out of the cells, letting the
cold air in. As warm clothing was confiscated and fewer blankets were provided,
prisoners were left without protection from the intense cold inside the cells in
winter, in clear violation of the Mandela Rules, which explicitly address heating

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 Deprivation of adequate living conditions Welcome to Hell

and climate-appropriate temperature in cells.118

On the first day, all we got was a mattress, even though the nights
are very cold because of the desert climate. We were shivering
with cold and tried to stick to each other as much as possible to
warm up a little. It took three days until they brought us blankets.
Each prisoner got one blanket. I was very cold, because I only had
a short-sleeved shirt after they confiscated my clothes.
from the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

About 15 guards came into our cell, handcuffed us, and took us
to the shower room. I looked out the window
there and saw them remove the glass panes We started
from the windows of our cell and leave. Our covering the
cell had three windows: two in the cell itself windows
and one in the toilet. They removed the glass with plastic
panes to let the cold air in. It was winter and bags left over
it was insanely cold. They put only three from the
coats in the room – to make us fight among bread, to keep
ourselves. But we simply gave the coats to some of the
the eldest detainees and started covering cold air from
the windows with plastic bags left over from coming in.
the bread, to keep some of the cold air from
coming in. Whenever a guard came and saw the bags on the
windows, he would swear and shout at us to take them off us.
We would remove them in front of him, and put them back up
after he left. That went on for 20 days, until the guards put the
glass panes back in all the windows and gave us all coats.
From the testimony of Z.T., Bethlehem District | Full testimony

118 See Rule 13 of the Mandela Rules.

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 Welcome to Hell

6.
Keter
t h e Isr ael Pr i so n S ervice
I n i t i al R eacti o n Fo r ce (IRF)

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 Welcome to Hell

6.
Ket er
the Israel Prison Service
Initial Reaction Force (IRF)

Among the IPS’s special units,119 the Initial Reaction Force (IRF), known in Hebrew
as Keter, featured prominently in the testimonies given to B’Tselem. Two witnesses
referred to it as the "death squad." The IRF was establishoed in 2010 to handle
emergencies and provide an immediate response until other forces arrive,120 in
instances such as prison riots or escape attempts. Mentions of the IRF in the media
and in testimonies suggest the unit operates at the Negev (Ketziot) Prison and
Ofer Camp, two of the major facilities in which Palestinian prisoners and detainees
are held.121 In the past, the unit faced criticism for alleged use of excessive force
and torture.122 Since the beginning of the war, its name has been linked to serious
allegations concerning the use of extreme and unlawful measures.123

The collection of testimonies in B’Tselem’s possession shows the IRF has been
heavily involved in the torture and physical, sexual and mental abuse of prisoners
since 7 October. Witnesses incarcerated in various prison facilities gave similar
descriptions of unit personnel: masked, wearing black uniforms with no
identification tags, armed with batons and firearms, and often accompanied by

119 Other units include, for example, Metzada (the IPS commando unit) and Dror.

120 See IPS Report for 2008, available here.

121 See the September issue of IPS magazine, Roim Shabas (‘Seeing the IPS’), 2010. The commander of Ketziot
Prison at the time, Brigadier General Shlomi Cohen, was the one who established the special unit in practice
(see here (Hebrew)). Cohen currently serves as the IPS representative at the Security Secretariat of the Ministry
of Public Security (here (Hebrew)). For mentions of the IRF’s presence at Ofer Prison see April 2012 issue of the
IPS Magazine here (Hebrew). It is not clear when exactly the IRF was established at that facility, but a 2015
figure notes that the unit operating at Ofer Prison has 30 combatants out of a total of 300 prison guards (see
here (Hebrew)). In 2019, members of the unit operating at Ofer Prison were described as a "unit of combatants
responsible for the initial response during a riot in the facility and other emergencies," available here (Hebrew)
and here (Hebrew).

122 See story in Haaretz newspaper concerning a 2019 incident at the Negev (Ketziot) Prison, in which, in re-
sponse to an attack on guards, IRF personnel assaulted handcuffed Palestinian prisoners using severe violence,
including with batons, sending 15 inmates to the hospital. The incident was caught on security cameras. The
national unit for investigating corrections officers launched an investigation, but ultimately closed it on the
grounds of "offender unknown." See this link.

123 See here, for example, and another report.

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 Keter Welcome to Hell

dogs. In one case, the unit reportedly used a stun grenade. Impossible to identify,124
and safe in the knowledge they would face no consequences for their actions,
members of the unit employed brazen, unbridled violence that amounts to abuse
and torture:

On the morning of 15 October 2023, after roll call, members of

the District Unit and IRF arrived. They were masked and had
firearms, batons and dogs that attacked us.
They ordered us to back out out of the cell one They left
by one, and walk the length of the corridor like us there for
that, hunched over. They stood by the door, about seven
hitting each inmate who came out of the cell hours, and
with batons and kicking him. When it was my the whole
turn, one of them kicked me in the face while time we
I was hunched over, and then a muzzled dog were
jumped me and attacked me with its front legs groaning in
and head. Two members of the forces led me, one pain.
pushing my head down and the other kicking me
the entire way.

They put me in a room with other inmates in it. There were

about 20 of us in total, and we’d all been beaten up with kicking,
punching and batons. Some were bleeding. They left us there for
about seven hours, and the whole time we were groaning in pain.
Then they took us back to our cells the same way we came.
From the testimony of Firas Hassan
50, a father of four and resident of Hindaza in Bethlehem District, who was held in
the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

When we got the Negev Prison […] the IRF was in charge there.
There was no light in the room and no water. I felt as if I was in
a small grave. After half an hour, I had trouble breathing and

124 Operational Security Directive No. 19/2024 (dated 8 April 2024) concerning Operational Protocol for Cor-
rectional Combatants in Contact with Prisoners with Face Coverings and ID Badge Only, was recently pub-
lished. According to the state, the Directive was designed to better protect guards and reduce prisoners’ ability
to "mark" them in a manner that could put their safety at risk at work or outside it. See, on this, mutatis mu-
tandis, Case 61533-05-24 (Prisoner Petition) ‘Odeh v. Israel Prison Service, para. 27 (hereinafter: the ‘Odeh case).
See also here (Hebrew).

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 Welcome to Hell

felt exhausted. My blood sugar was high and

During the
my heart was racing. I really felt I was about
attack, they
to die. Later on, a female soldier came and
pulled all my
opened a small window. Then they opened
clothes off,
the door and started calling out our names,
including my
to take us to cells one by one. When it was my
underwear. I
turn, a guard ordered me to lower my head
heard them
and then one of them grabbed my hands and
say to each
twisted them behind my back. They led me
other, "This
along for about 500 meters, hitting me hard
one is sick,"
on the way until I fell down, and then they
but they kept
kicked me in different parts of my body.
on hitting me
During the attack, they pulled all my clothes anyway.
off, including my underwear. I heard them
say to each other, "This one is sick," but they kept on hitting me
anyway. I felt I was going to pass out. Finally, they ordered me
to get dressed. I could hardly pull my clothes on, and the whole
time they kept kicking me. My waist really hurt and I could
hardly breathe. I couldn’t move, let alone walk. I stayed lying on
the floor, until three of them pulled and dragged me by my arms.
It was terrible, indescribable. I felt near death. While they were
dragging me, I saw the blood of other detainees on the floor. I was
bleeding, too, from my right arm. I hadn’t even noticed.

They took me to wing 27 and threw me on the ground in the yard.

Again, they kicked me a few times all over my body. Then they
ordered me to stand up, but I couldn’t. Then they dragged me by
the arms, again, to cell 3, and threw me down next to the door.
They opened the door and one of them brought a big bottle of
shampoo and poured it on the floor, just inside the door. Then
they put me on the shampoo and kicked me across the cell. I slid
until my right shoulder hit a bed frame and was injured. I’m still
suffering from that injury.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron, who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

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 Keter Welcome to Hell

The criminal conduct of IRF personnel and their extreme, unpredictable and
irrational violence terrorized prisoners who encountered them.125 This terror
continued throughout their incarceration, and likely deepened the trauma that
continues to affect those released.126

On the morning of 26 October 2023, 25 members of the IRF

stormed the wing with a police dog. They opened our cell door,
ordered us, screaming, to kneel like I described before, and
then pounced on us and beat us. The dog, which had a muzzle
on, attacked us too. They kicked us and beat us with clubs all
over our bodies, cursed us and called us "sons of whores" and
"whores." It lasted about half an hour. Our screams filled the
prison. Some of us cried in pain. They forced us to curse God and
our mothers.

When the force left the cell, we were lying on Our

the floor, unable to move. My chest hurt a lot screams
because I got kicked there, and I had bruises all filled the
over my body. We couldn’t recover that day. We prison.
were completely broken and very scared. It was Some of
a black day for me and the other prisoners. us cried in
That night, we were afraid to even talk. We just
pain. They
whispered to each other. There was silence in the
forced us to
cells. No one dared to even ask for a doctor. The
curse God
rooms were dark, and every now and then, a guard
and our
passed by, shone a flashlight through the window
mothers.
in the door, and asked in Arabic, "Which one of
you is Hamas, girls?" None of us dared to even look at him because
we were afraid they would come in and attack us again.

[…] After one of the interrogations I underwent, the interrogator]

told me to leave the room, I saw the IRF people in the corridor. I held

125 The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
from 1993 to 2001, Mr. Nigel Rodley, held that: "[C]redible threats, including death threats, to the physical integrity
of the victim or a third person can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even to torture, especially
when the victim remains in the hands of law enforcement officials." See Report of the Special Rapporteur on the
question of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, U.N. Doc A/56/156.
126 See Physicians for Human Rights, "Break them Down: Systemic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces,"
pp. 54-55 (2005); see also: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrad-
ing Treatment or Punishment, U.N. Doc E/CN.4/2002/76, Annex III.

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 Welcome to Hell

on to the door and refused to go out. I said to the interrogator:

"I beg you, don’t send me out. They’ll kill me," and then he
shouted: "Take this dog." They bent my back until my head
almost reached the floor, and made me run like that to the cell.
On the way, one of them grabbed my hands, which were still
handcuffed from behind, and pulled them back forcefully until
we reached the cell.
From the testimony of A.H., Hebron District | Full testimony

In some cases, witnesses described other IPS personnel being present during
attacks by the IRF. They stood idly by and did nothing to protect the victims, their
presence essentially lending legitimacy to the actions. The presence of IPS officers
and the participation of dozens of IPS guards in the assaults indicates that these
were not isolated incidents or the work of a rogue guard.

On 9 November 2023, at around 2:00 P.M., a force of 20 masked

officers from the IRF and DU arrived with a
dog. They opened the cell door and attacked Some of the
us with batons. Two of them grabbed me forces filmed
and hit me in the back with batons. One of us with cell
them grabbed my head while I was on the phones and
floor and hit me in the face with a baton. cameras. I
My face and right eye started bleeding. I heard the
told them in Hebrew, "I’m going to die," and officer tell
one of them said that he wanted me to die. the others in
Others told me to shut up. Hebrew: "We’re
livestreaming
After they beat us up for about 10 minutes,
for Ben Gvir."
they tied our hands behind our backs with
zip ties. They fastened them so tight that I felt them cutting into
my hands. The beating continued, and members of the forces
stepped on my chest and head. There were also two officers in
the cell, and one of them ordered them to beat us. The members
of the forces laughed among themselves. They took some clothes
away from inmates. They dragged some of us on the floor and
forced others to kiss one of the officer’s shoes.

I saw them grab some inmates by the testicles, and the inmates
screamed and cried. The officers also pressed their batons against

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 Keter Welcome to Hell

the genitals of some inmates. The stream of None of us

insults didn’t stop: "motherfuckers," "sons could move,
of bitches," "dogs," "ISIS." Some of the forces not even to
filmed us with cell phones and cameras. I go to the
heard the officer tell the others in Hebrew: bathroom.
"We’re livestreaming for Ben Gvir." We were all
The attack lasted a long time, more than half dizzy and lost
an hour of nonstop beating. It looked like they balance.
wanted to cause as much damage as possible. My right eye
When it was over, I felt I was going to pass swelled up,
out. Afterwards, we lay on the floor for hours. and I was
None of us could move, not even to go to the afraid I’d lose
bathroom. We were all dizzy and lost balance. my sight. We
My right eye swelled up, and I was afraid I’d were in a very
lose my sight. We were in a very bad state. One bad state.
prisoner said in tears that they’d raped him One prisoner
with a stick. said in tears
that they’d
After that incident, we lived in constant fear.
raped him
Also, we were shocked by the screams of
with a stick.
inmates being beaten in other cells. We were
afraid all the time, day and night, that the forces would attack
us again.
From the testimony of Firas Hassan
50, a father of four and resident of Hindaza in Bethlehem District, who was held in
the Negev Prison (Ketziot) | Full testimony

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7.
Deaths behind bars

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7 . Deat hs behin d ba rs

At least 60 people died in Israeli custody. Forty-eight of them were detainees from
Gaza, some of whom died in detention camps set up by the military and others
before they even got there, apparently due to extreme violence by soldiers during
their transfer from Gaza to Israel.127 B’Tselem knows of another 12 Palestinians
from the West Bank or from Israel who died in IPS custody, some in circumstances
that raise grave suspicion of deliberate abuse and denial of medical care. The
police opened at least one criminal investigation against prison guards who were
involved in the death of an IPS inmate. However, as far as we are aware, no one
has been prosecuted for these actions.

Witnesses referred to three deaths in testimonies given to B’Tselem. The

information and details we have regarding each of these cases is presented below.

The death of Thaer Abu ‘Asab

On 19 November 2023, the media reported an official announcement regarding

the death of a 38-year-old prisoner at the Negev (Ketziot) prison named Thaer
Abu ‘Asab, who had been sentenced to a long prison term several years before
the 7 October attack.128 Abu ‘Asab’s autopsy revealed signs of severe violence, and
yet the report said no direct correlation could be drawn between these signs and
his death.129 Despite this, media reports revealed that 19 Ketziot prison guards

127 See Haaretz: Israeli Army Conducting Criminal Investigation into 48 Deaths of Gazans During War, Mostly
Detainees; See also a 28 May 2024 report on a probe into the death of two detainees from Gaza indicating
they had been beaten by soldiers on route to Sdeh Teiman. The Military Police reportedly dismissed the claims
made by the soldiers who escorted the two that they were injured as a result of the rough ride and sought to
interrogate some of the soldiers involved under warning. None of the suspects were arrested. The deaths of
35 Gazans in custody are under investigation. At least two died due to neglect or poor care. See on this also:
Haaretz story about six Palestinians who have died in IPS facilities since 7 October 2023, here; see also Haaretz
story about the death of 27 Palestinians in military prison facilities, here; see also about Megiddo Prison in the
north, here; and see a report about death at Shin Bet interrogation facility, here.

128 See letter (Hebrew) from the Association for Civil Rights and other organizations to the Attorney Gener�-
al; a Ynet report dated 21 December 2023, here (Hebrew); See documentation of deaths in custody in PHRI,
"Systematic Violation of Human Rights: The Incarceration Conditions of Palestinians in Israel Since
October 7," p.32.

129 See here.

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 Deaths behind bars Welcome to Hell

suspected of involvement in the affair were investigated for the alleged offenses
of causing injury, causing harm in aggravated circumstances and obstructing an
investigation.130 To the best of our knowledge, at the time of publication, none of
them have been prosecuted. Reports also indicate that five of the suspects were
members of the IRF and were transferred out of the unit following the incident.
Their appeal to reverse the decision was dismissed in court.131

One of Abu ‘Asab’s cellmates spoke about his death after suffering severe violence
at the hands of IRF personnel:

Later, they moved me to another cell where we they hit

were also eight inmates, including Thaer Abu Thaer the
‘Asab. In that cell, too, I slept on a mattress on hardest.
the floor. The older inmates, such as Abu ‘Asab, He tried to
slept on the beds. We were together in the cell protect his
for about ten days. It had three windows, and head with
the prison administration took the glass panes his hand, but
out of all of them to make the cold worse, in pretty soon
the day and at night. he had to let
On 18 November 2023, the guards came for go because
roll call along with special forces who were of the blows.
masked and holding batons with bits of iron They kept on
sticking out of them. The guards counted us. hitting him
The method was that the guard called out an on the head
inmate’s first name and he replied with his and the rest
last name, while we squatted. of his body
until he fell
That day, when roll call was over, one of the down on the
guards called Thaer’s name again and Thaer floor.

130 See Haaretz publication, here.

131 The five guards petitioned the Court for Administrative Affairs to have the decision reversed and reinstate
them in the unit (AP 45090-02-24). They appealed to the Labor Court as well. Both petitions were dismissed
by the judicial instances, but it is not clear what happened to the five guards and where they were ultimately
placed; see, AP 45090-02-24 Pashaev et al. v. State of Israel.

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answered, "Abu ‘Asab." Then the guard said again, "Thaer," and
Thaer again said, "Abu ‘Asab." Then the special forces came in with
the batons and guns and started hitting us. Each one grabbed one
inmate and beat him. They hit us in every part of our body. We
didn’t move, we just screamed and screamed while they hit us
non-stop. My head started bleeding and I saw that the inmates
next to me were also bleeding from the head. That lasted about
seven minutes, and then they moved away to the door of the cell.

Then about eight of them came back in and hit all of us, but they
hit Thaer the hardest. He tried to protect his head with his hand,
but pretty soon he had to let go because of the blows. They kept
on hitting him on the head and the rest of his body until he fell
down on the floor. After that, they left and closed the cell door.

We called Thaer’s name over and over, but he didn’t respond.

There was blood trickling from his head and his skin went dark.
I think he had internal bleeding. We called out to the guard and
shouted for an hour, but he didn’t respond. Eventually, a guard
came who also served as a medic. He asked me to lift up Thaer’s
shirt. When I lifted it, I saw his stomach was swollen and looked
dark. The guard-medic called an officer. A lot of officers arrived
and forced the remaining seven of us to squeeze into the corner
with the toilet — a space of one square meter. After they crammed
us in there, they took Thaer and left. Five minutes later, a guard
came, opened the toilet door and told us that Thaer was dead.

The next day, the Shin Bet came and took us one by one for
interrogation. My interrogation lasted about fifteen minutes. In
it, they claimed we’d caused trouble and killed Thaer, which was
why we were all injured. They said it was us who attacked each
other, not the guards. The interrogator asked me how we killed
Thaer. I told him what happened—that the guards beat us and
killed him, and I explained how it happened.

After we all went back to the cell, the prison commander, who
was known as "Abu Yusef", came and opened the door. He laughed
and said we’d killed Thaer and wanted to frame the prison for it.
From the testimony of M.A., Hebron District | Full testimony

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 Deaths behind bars Welcome to Hell

On 18 November 2023, during roll call, five IRF I couldn’t

members and a lot of guards led by an officer move or
came into the cell and attacked us, claiming they breathe for
were looking for a radio. They beat us with batons, half an
punched us and kicked us all over our bodies. hour.
They brought a dog into the cell, which attacked a Everyone
young detainee and scratched his back badly. around
We were all badly injured in that attack. When
me was
it was over, we lay on the floor. I leaned against
screaming
a wall. I had broken ribs and was injured in my
in pain,
right shoulder, my right thumb, and a finger on
and some
my left hand. I couldn’t move or breathe for half
inmates
an hour. Everyone around me was screaming in
were crying.
pain, and some inmates were crying. Most were
Most were
bleeding. It was a nightmare beyond words. The
bleeding.
officer told us he’d be back in the evening.
It was a
nightmare
We lay there and waited, scared to death, but we beyond
weren’t attacked again that night. IRF people words.
attacked inmates in other cells that night. It was so
violent that their screams filled the prison. The next day we learned
that IRF people had killed a detainee named Thaer Abu ‘Asab. That
night, the guards held a party on wing 21. They played loud music,
danced with female soldiers and cursed Hamas and Sinwar.
From the testimony of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb
53, a father of five and resident of Hebron, who was held in the Etzion detention
facility and in the Ofer and Negev (Ketziot) prisons | Full testimony

The death of ‘Arafat Hamdan

‘Arafat Hamdan, a 25-year-old insulin-treated diabetes patient from Beit Sira,
was arrested on 22 October 2023 and taken to Ofer Prison. He was found dead
in his cell just two days later, on 24 October. In their testimonies to B’Tselem,
two of his cellmates provided many details about the circumstances of his death,
including violence, starvation, withholding of treatment and medication, and
poor, negligent care. What stands out is the guards’ criminal indifference. They
knew about Hamdan’s deteriorating condition and did nothing to help him as he
lay dying in the cell, until he finally passed away.

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 Welcome to Hell

They brought two new detainees into our cell. They were both
from Beit Sira, and I didn’t know them. One of them was called
‘Arafat Yasser Hamdan. He was 24 years old. ‘Arafat didn’t seem
in good shape. It was obvious he was exhausted, and he couldn’t
speak. I asked the other detainee what was wrong with him.
He said: "He’s sick and tired." I noticed ‘Arafat kept putting his
hands over his belly and that he was limping on his right leg. I
understood he was beaten at Etzion. We gave him a mattress and
let him sleep. After half an hour, he got up and went quickly to
the toilet holding his belly, and started vomiting. Then he came
back and lay on the mattress and it was clear that he was in pain.
In two hours, he threw up again and again, more than five times.
Each time, after he came back to the mattress, he would say, "Help
me, help me," and bang his hand on the floor. When we asked him
what happened to him, he said: "They hit me, they tortured me."
Then he told us: "I have a blood sugar problem.
If I don’t eat something to raise my blood sugar, In two hours,
I’ll go into a convulsion fit and might pass out. he threw up
It makes my condition worse. They also hit me again and
in the stomach." again, more
For two hours, between 6:30 and 8:30 P.M., I
than five
asked again and again through the opening
times. Each
in the door for a doctor to come see him. In
time, after he
the end, only a medic arrived, who looked at
came back to
‘Arafat through the opening in the door. ‘Arafat
the mattress,
explained his health problem and told him
he would say,
he was in bad shape and needed hospital care
"Help me,
because of his diabetes. I understood that he
help me",
needed a special injection, but the medic told
and bang his
him: "There’s no hospital" and left without
hand on the
giving him any treatment.
floor.

‘Arafat’s condition got worse. He had trouble breathing and was

panting. He threw up again and again. We couldn’t help him at
all. I took turns with another detainee, staying up to watch over
him at night. I tried to help him, and mostly lifted him every time
he had to throw up, so he wouldn’t suffocate. He started vomiting
a black liquid that looked like coffee grounds. In the morning, he

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 Deaths behind bars Welcome to Hell

passed out. For four or five hours, I begged more than 30 times
to send the medic again. When he finally came, he saw ‘Arafat
unconscious through the opening in the door and told me he had
to go to the infirmary. I asked how he was supposed to get to the
infirmary if he was unconscious, so the medic
asked us to drag him to the door of the cell. I checked for
After we dragged ‘Arafat on a blanket to the a pulse, but
door, the medic asked us to get him on his feet. there was no
I asked how he was supposed to stand on his pulse and he
feet when he was unconscious. In the end, he wasn’t
gave me a blood sugar test device, with sticks. breathing.
We checked, and it was very low. After two For five to
minutes, the medic came back and asked the 10 minutes
guard to open the cell door to get ‘Arafat out. we gave him
We put him on a mattress and dragged him CPR, with
about 15 meters to the administration office. mouth-to-
They brought him back 40 minutes later. He mouth
was walking and it looked like they’d given resuscitation,
him fluids. Then a nurse came and brought a but he didn’t
glass of sugar water. He gave me the glass and respond.
told me to let ‘Arafat drink from it every time
he started to get tired. He also asked us to feed him. We tried to get
him to eat bread with labneh, but he couldn’t eat. He would take
a bite and it would stay in his mouth for 15 minutes, because he
couldn’t swallow.

I tried to give him the sugar water, but he couldn’t swallow that
either. After an hour, he started getting worse again, and he
passed out. I asked the guard again and again to call the medic,
but he refused. At midday roll call, ‘Arafat couldn’t stand up. The
officer asked me why he wasn’t getting up and I told him about
‘Arafat’s condition. He said he’d asked the medic about him and
he’d told him that ‘Arafat didn’t have anything and there was
nothing that could be done for him. After roll call, they left the
cell, and ‘Arafat stayed like that until 3:00 P.M. At one point,
I fell asleep because I’d stayed up at night to watch over him.
Then the other prisoners woke me up and told me ‘Arafat had
stopped breathing. I saw he was foaming at the mouth. I checked

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 Welcome to Hell

for a pulse, but there was no pulse and he wasn’t breathing. For
five to 10 minutes we gave him CPR, with mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation, but he didn’t respond. I know a bit about first aid,
and because he showed no signs of life, I thought he was dead.
We started calling the guards. A guard would pass by every now
and then. I told them more than five times that ‘Arafat was dead,
and they only said they weren’t allowed to open the door and
that the medic would come soon.

It went on like that for an hour or an hour and a half and only
then, suddenly, everyone came, management people, guards,
doctors and medics. They opened the door. I dragged ‘Arafat out
to the yard on a mattress along with two other detainees. From
there, they took him on a stretcher towards the administration
office. We don’t know what happened to him after that. Half an
hour later, a guard came back and told us ‘Arafat was okay and had
no health problem. He said he’d been taken to the hospital and
was doing well. I said, "Are you kidding us?!" I didn’t believe what
he said. ‘Arafat was dead when he left the cell, without a pulse
and not breathing. I asked: "How can you say he doesn’t have any
health problem?" but he didn’t respond.
From the testimony of Muhammad Srur
34, a father of two and resident of Ni’lin in Ramallah District, who was held in the
Etzion detention facility and in the Ofer and Nafha prisons | Full testimony

On 23 October 2023, in the evening, the guards brought into our

cell two young men from the village of Beit Sira in Ramallah
District. One of them was ‘Arafat Hamdan, 24, and the other was
his neighbor. Hamdan looked sick and tired, and was breathing
heavily. He lay on a mattress on the floor and could hardly speak.
He tried to get up to pray the first evening prayer with us, but he
couldn’t do it, and went back to sitting on the floor. He leaned
against the wall and told us he was hungry. We gave him some
rice and cooked lentils we’d saved, but he only ate two spoonfuls
and couldn’t swallow the third. We also gave him some water to
drink. We saw he was getting worse. He started vomiting and
gasping for air. His neighbor said he had type 1 diabetes, and
was suffering from a diabetes attack and needed to be taken to a

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 Deaths behind bars Welcome to Hell

hospital immediately. We called the guards and We called

asked them to get a doctor, but they ignored us. the medic
again to
At around 5:00 A.M., during roll call, we told the
check him,
officer that ‘Arafat was very ill, that his health
and he said
was getting worse and that he was unconscious.
to call him
The officer told us he would call the medics and
when ‘Arafat
left. After about 20 minutes, two medics came
passed away.
to the cell door with an officer and guards and
told us to bring ‘Arafat to the door so they could check him through
it. We told them he was unconscious and couldn’t reach the door.
One of the medics threatened that if we didn’t bring ‘Arafat to
the door they would leave. We had to drag him unconscious to
the cell door and lift him up so they could check him through
it. The medic was unable to check him like that, so one of the
detainees took the blood glucose meter from the medic and tested
‘Arafat. It turned out that his blood sugar was very low. I told the
paramedics this was a dangerous situation and that ‘Arafat was
dying, but they ignored me and left after 10 minutes with the
officer and the guards that escorted them. Then they came back
and took ‘Arafat to the prison infirmary. They brought him back
after about an hour. He couldn’t stand, and was leaning on one of
the guards who put him in the cell. The guard said Arafat needed
food and drink, and I told him we had nothing to feed him. He
said to wait for breakfast.

‘Arafat sat on the floor and leaned against the I told the
wall until breakfast, which was at around 9:00 detainees to
A.M. He only had two bites, drank some water, let him rest
and went back to leaning against the wall. He for a while,
was breathing very heavily. We called the medic but ‘Arafat
again to check him, and he said to call him when didn’t wake
‘Arafat passed away. ‘Arafat stayed like that and up. After an
then went calm and stopped panting. He was hour and a
still sitting with his back to the wall, and we half, we
thought he had fallen asleep. I told the detainees saw fluid
to let him rest for a while, but ‘Arafat didn’t coming
wake up. After an hour and a half, we saw fluid out of his
coming out of his mouth. One of the detainees mouth.

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checked his pulse and shouted that ‘Arafat was dead. We started
calling out to the guards and banging hard on the door. An officer
and 10 guards came to the cell, and we told them that ‘Arafat was
dead. They took ‘Arafat out of the room, and later I asked one of the
guards about him, and he said they’d taken him to a hospital.

Four days later, the guards brought in a new detainee, who told us
‘Arafat died the day they took him out of the room. ‘Arafat needed
medication and special food for his diabetes, and he had to eat
often, but the prison administration didn’t care, and he died as a
result of neglect and lack of food.
From the testimony of F.J., Hebron District | Full testimony

The death of Muhammad a-Sabbar

Muhammad a-Sabbar, a 20-year-old from the town of a-Dhahiriyah in the South
Hebron Hills, also died in IPS custody at Ofer Prison. A-Sabbar, who was arrested
in May 2022, suffered from an intestinal disease requiring a special diet, which he
received in prison until the war broke out. The small amount of food provided
to prisoners after 7 October and the lack of variety directly impacted a-Sabbar’s
health, which deteriorated rapidly once conditions were downgraded. The lack
of proper nutrition, poor medical care and brazen disregard for his condition
ultimately led to his death on 8 February 2024.

That was the situation until the war in Gaza broke out on 7 October
2023. The prison administration announced a prohibition on
providing medical treatment to "security" prisoners, except for
those with diabetes and high blood pressure. [...] It was already
forbidden to cook anything, and buying from the canteen was not
allowed. Besides prohibiting purchases from the canteen, they
limited the amount of food, so much that it dropped to 20% of the
usual amount before the war.

[...] All that started the suffering of the prisoner Muhammad

a-Sabbar. The food they gave us was all dry, with nothing to soften
it. Most of what they did bring was grains, which he wasn’t allowed
to eat because they caused him intestinal bloating. Every day I
would talk to the officer, explaining that Muhammad needed to

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 Deaths behind bars Welcome to Hell

be taken to the hospital. The first stage What he

was severe constipation; he didn’t pass needed was a
stool for 12 days. I spoke with the prison professional
administration and asked them to bring nurse and
an enema to help him eliminate the waste. hospital care,
After many requests, they brought him an because what
enema. After we solved that problem, we he needed
started dealing with his diet, as much as wasn’t available
we could with the little food we had. Every in the prison.
quarter of an hour, I gave him a small piece
of bread and yogurt. We tried to control his health so that it wouldn’t
deteriorate too much because of the food.

[...] At that stage, Muhammad had memory loss and vision

problems. He didn’t even know how long he’d been in prison.
What he needed was a professional nurse and hospital care,
because what he needed wasn’t available in the prison. His
stomach was always bloated [...] After I was released, I found out
that Muhammad a-Sabbar died in prison.
From the testimony of ‘Atef ‘Awawdeh
53, a father of seven and resident of Deir Samit in Hebron District, who was held in
the Ofer, Nafha and Negev (Ketziot) prisons.

In my cell, there was a prisoner from He reached a

a-Dhahiriyah named Muhammad Ahmad point where
a-Sabbar, who was born with an intestinal he couldn’t
defect. His intestines were swollen and he even go to the
needed medication to soften his stools, toilet. They
and fluids to help him digest food and transferred
get rid of waste. During the time we were him to another
in the cell together he became very badly cell, and a
bloated, because from the beginning of the week later we
war they gave us only carbohydrates to eat. learned
We kept asking the guards to get him a he’d died.
doctor, take him to an infirmary or bring
him medicine, but they refused. In the end, he reached a point
where he couldn’t even go to the toilet. They transferred him to
another cell, and a week later we learned he’d died.
From the testimony of 'A.A., Hebron District | Full testimony

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8.
Palestinian prisoners
with Israeli citizenship

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8.
Palestinian prisoners with
Israeli citizenship

Among the Palestinians who gave testimonies to B’Tselem about prison abuses
since 7 October were Israeli citizens. Even though as citizens of the state, they
have a different status and come under different laws than Palestinian residents of
the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, these prisoners were subjected to
the same conditions as their West Bank counterparts and suffered similar abuses.

Since October 7, hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel have been arrested for
suspected incitement and support of terrorist organizations, sometimes over minor
acts such as expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people or criticizing Israel,
the war and so on.132 Arrests of Palestinian citizens, especially on the mass scale
seen since the war began, is another way the Israeli regime uses its systems against
Palestinians everywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.133

While the political persecution of Palestinians, and particularly Palestinian citizens

of Israel, and the rampant incitement against them by public officeholders have
grown steadily worse since 7 October and as the war continues, these lie beyond
the scope of this report. Information and figures exposed in recent months by
civil society organizations and the media show that, beyond blatantly selective
enforcement, these prisoners’ most basic rights have been suspended and the
protections afforded to them have been stripped away, simply because of their
ethnic-national identity and regardless of whether they were detained before or
after 7 October. Accordingly, we see fit to include several of their testimonies.

This marshaling of criminal procedure as a tool for silencing political expression

132 See story in Shomrim.

133 According to "Interrogations, Arrests and Indictments of Palestinian Citizens of Israel Since 7 October," an
Adalah report that provides figures for 7 October 2023 to 13 November 2023 (hereinafter: Adalah Report), in
the first month of the war alone, between 7 October and 13 November, about 250 citizens were interrogated,
over a hundred of them over social media posts. Indictments were served in dozens of cases under Sec. 24(a)
and/or 24(b) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. In comparison, from 2018 to 2022, 88 indictments were brought
against Israeli citizens for incitement or sympathizing with terrorist organizations. Forty-six indictments were
served against Palestinian citizens of Israel over social media posts in the first month (Hebrew) of the war
alone; see also here.

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 Palestinian prisoners with Israeli citizenship Welcome to Hell

and discouraging participation in Israel’s political discourse is carried out under

the guidance of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, with the unqualified
support of State Attorney Amit Eisman.134 It has been made possible thanks to
directives State Attorney Eisman issued, which allow police officers to arrest and
investigate suspected incitement offenses without receiving prior approval from
the State Attorney as protocol demands.135

Testimony of I.A., a student at an Israeli university in her 20s,

who was arrested following an Instagram post:

On 9 October 2023, I received a letter from my university that I

was suspended from studies, with no prior warning. Eight other
Palestinian-Israeli students were also suspended following
social media posts [...] On 12 November 2023, my father called
and told me representatives of the authorities had come to our
house and handed over a summons for interrogation for me.
My father refused to give them my address, and managed to
persuade them that they didn’t need to go get me and he’d bring
me to the police station.

That same day at 6:00 P.M. I went to the police station with my
father. He waited for me outside, but as soon as I went in they
handed me an arrest warrant. The moment I entered, the police
officers started humiliating me, shouting at me that I was a
terrorist supporter and mocking my appearance. They took away
all my belongings, including my phone and shoelaces. Then my
hands were tied in front of me with metal handcuffs.

I gathered from the arrest warrant that I was suspected of

identifying with terrorist organizations and supporting terror. I
demanded to speak with my lawyer, and they let me. The lawyer
calmed me down and explained that I was allowed to maintain
my right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions.

134 See, e.g., here (Hebrew), here (Hebrew) and here.

135 See for example this report in Haaretz (Hebrew). See also here (Hebrew).

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Then they put me, handcuffed, in a room where a lot of officers,

male and female, were sitting and smoking. One of them put
his phone close to my face and took a photo of me. When I told
him, "You have no right to photograph me," he answered: "I’ll go
outside and tell your father you’re impolite." They all made fun
of me, whispering and giggling.
The worst
[…] Then they took me to a vehicle that was the strip
drove off. They didn’t tell me where we were search. I didn’t
going, but when we got there I saw a sign expect
saying Hasharon Prison. I asked what time them to do
it was and they said it was about 11:00 P.M. such a thing to
I was frightened and anxious. I was received me – to search
by a male and female prison guard, and the me entirely
female police officer who escorted me from naked. They
the police station was also there. They kept made me
mocking me and making fun of me because kneel, naked,
of a photo of me in a hijab that they had on so they
their computer. I walked slowly, because could see I
they’d taken my shoelaces and I was afraid wasn’t hiding
that if my shoes fell off, they wouldn’t let me anything.
put them back on. So they pushed me the
whole way. The worst was the strip search. I didn’t expect them
to do such a thing to me – to search me entirely naked. They made
me kneel, naked, so they could see I wasn’t hiding anything. It was
so humiliating. I asked the female guard and the female police
officer to let me sit half crouching, so I could cover my body a bit.

The female guard made fun of my clothes, the shape of my body,

and my body hair. She made it clear that I disgusted her.

I thought of my father. I wondered whether he was still waiting

for me outside the police station or already knew I’d been arrested
and wasn’t even in Haifa but in prison outside the city. Everything
was disturbing, insulting and degrading. They did everything in
the most offensive way possible.

[…] When I got to the cell, the other female inmates were already
asleep. There were four beds and another three inmates sleeping
on the floor. […] Early in the morning, the other inmates woke
up and we introduced ourselves. They were from the West Bank.

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 Palestinian prisoners with Israeli citizenship Welcome to Hell

They explained the prison routine – a naked They said, for

strip search every day, in the shower inside example, that
the cell. They said I had to be careful not to the guards
upset the female guards, so they wouldn’t would beat me
beat me. They said, for example, that the if they asked
guards would beat me if they asked questions questions and
and didn’t like my answers, or if I stayed silent didn’t like my
and didn’t answer at all, since they considered answers, or if I
that a provocation. I couldn’t believe it – how stayed silent
could such a thing happen? Where were we? and didn’t
Something inside me just didn’t want to answer at all,
believe it was possible. […] A bit later, three since they
female guards came into the cell, and a male considered
guard stood at the doorway and watched. that a
Just then, I spoke to one of the inmates and provocation.
smiled at her. One of the female guards didn’t
like that and shouted at me, in Hebrew, "Why are you laughing?"
I answered that was just the shape of my face, and got angry. She
led me to the shower and ordered me to undress. She asked where
I was from, and why I was there. She told me several times "You're
Hamas," and when she didn’t like my answers, she pulled my hair,
grabbed me by the jaw, said I had a big mouth and twisted my head
and neck, yelled at me and shoved me several times.

[…] On my second night there, one of the inmates had itchy arms
and a rash appeared on her body. She was scratching so hard that
none of us could sleep. We banged on the door and asked that
they let her see the medic, whose room was close to our cell, but
no one answered.

That night, we also banged the door to ask for pads for another
inmate who was menstruating. A female guard came and threw
our roll of toilet paper at us. She said, "You’re not in a hotel." In
the morning, during roll call and the search, the female guards
asked, "Who banged on the door at night?" We all kept quiet. The
male guard pointed to the inmate who had demanded pads, and
then they took her to the shower and strip searched her naked.
We heard her shouting and understood they were hitting her.

[…] While I was there, I attended a legal hearing on Zoom. There

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were two male guards in the room talking to each other, and
I couldn’t hear a thing. I asked them to speak quietly but they
didn’t listen to me, and one of them even turned the volume of
my speaker down. I gestured to the lawyer that I couldn’t hear
anything and he came closer to the camera, spoke slowly and
gestured until I understood they had extended my detention by
another three days, and that I would be transferred to Damun
Prison. […] The conditions were awful there, too. There were a lot
of female inmates there. I gathered from them that at the start
of the war in Gaza, the prison administration had confiscated
all their belongings. They left them nothing. They took away
their clothes and electrical appliances, including radios, and the
kitchen utensils they used to cook and to prepare coffee and tea.
The canteen was also closed. Before that, the inmates prepared
their own food, but under the new order they brought us prepared
food, which was really terrible and the amounts were too small.

[…] In early 2024, I resumed my studies. I was really scared Jewish

students would attack me, especially since there was a group of
right-wing students who had campaigned and demanded we be
expelled from the university, persecuted and punished. Many
students now attend classes armed with rifles and guns, and
enter lecture halls like that. I often sit next to someone armed
like that during a lecture. It’s a really scary situation, especially
in a reality of ongoing incitement against Arab students.
Full testimony

Testimony of Adv. Ahmad Khalifah, 42, from Um al-Fahem,

arrested during a local protest.
Suddenly, several police units raided the protest. I saw officers
wearing three different types of uniforms. They threw stun
grenades. […] They led me to a jeep, where there were 10 other
detained demonstrators. On the way to the jeep they hit me, tore
my shirt and kicked me. They threw me to the ground, and one of
them kneed me in the chest several times. It was very painful. He
also hit me hard in the face, and other police officers beat me, too.

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 Palestinian prisoners with Israeli citizenship Welcome to Hell

[…] the beating continued at the station. They hit me with their
hands and sometimes with wooden clubs, and kicked me. They
replaced the metal handcuffs with zip ties, which they tightened
around my wrists and put on my feet, too. They covered my eyes
with the shirt I was wearing. I couldn’t walk with my feet tied
and had to hop. The police officers took several pictures of me,
mocking me and laughing. From what they said to each other,
I understood they were sending the photos to their friends. […]
I had chest pain, probably from the beating earlier, and I asked
to be taken to a hospital. They waited until the next day to take
me. At the hospital, a doctor ordered a chest X-ray. While I was
waiting for it, a hearing regarding our detention started, so I had
to miss the X-ray and attend on Zoom, otherwise, the hearing
would have been postponed.

[…] That same day, they transferred us to Megiddo Prison, where

they strip-searched us naked. They didn’t beat me, maybe because
they saw I was finished from the previous beatings. I sat there
from about midnight to 5:00 A.M. and heard them beat, curse
and humiliate other detainees, who screamed and cried. It was
very difficult. You sit there not knowing if you’ll be next, unable
to do anything. Sometimes, hearing other people getting beaten
is harder than being beaten yourself.

They put me in wing 10, where I stayed until 4 January 2024.

The conditions in Megiddo were catastrophic. We had no rights,
no clean mattresses, pillows, blankets or clothes. We barely got
food and water. The cells were dark all day, but in the evening –
between 7:00 and 11:00 P.M. – just when we wanted to go to sleep,
they’d turn on the lights. It was cold in the cells. Wind came in and
sometimes even rain. We barely managed to sleep. They would
play loud music at night, the Israeli anthem and sometimes
Druze songs. For the first four or five days, we were without
shoes and had only the clothes on our backs. We got some clothes
from detainees who were released and left them behind for us,
but we had to wear them over our clothes, otherwise they were
confiscated every time the guards broke into the room. The
guards stole items we had already paid for from the canteen and

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smoked cigarettes next to us, saying they were our cigarettes. […]
They did roll call three times a day, during which we had to kneel
by the wall, far from the door, with our hands on our heads. We
were supposed to look at the guards once so they could identify
us, but besides that, we were forbidden to look them in the eye.

The drinking water came from the bathroom sink. It was murky
and tasted bad, but we had to drink it. The food was terrible
and there wasn’t enough of it. We saved what we were given
throughout the day and ate it before bed, so we wouldn’t go to
sleep hungry. Still, we were never full because it was only enough
to survive on.

[…] Every time they took us to the court, they beat the other
detainees on the bus along the way. They didn’t hit me, perhaps
because I’m a lawyer, but the other detainees were constantly
beaten in front of me. It was a real journey of suffering.

[…] At Gilboa, 30 of us were taken together to the yard to shower,

and were given an hour or less. That wasn’t enough time for
everyone, so we had to take turns showering. Each one showered
once every two or three days. They gave us a very small amount
of shampoo, and only rarely, so we diluted it to make it last for
everyone. We didn’t get towels either, so we had to dress while
still wet. Most of the time, there wasn’t even toilet paper because
we received only two rolls a week for a cell of 10 to 12 detainees.
The guards would come to our cells and film us, narrating the
video and bragging about the harsh conditions in the prison.
[…] Occasionally, guards would come into the cell for no reason,
pick a detainee, and start beating him. Or they would come in to
conduct a search, force us to lie face down, handcuff us and leave
only one person unrestrained, and then make him crawl and kiss
their shoes. If he refused, he was of course beaten.
Full testimony

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Testimony of Adv. Sari Huriyyah, 53, from Shfaram,

who was arrested over a Facebook post:

Three people in civilian clothes came into my office and sat down.
Up until that moment, I didn’t realize what was going on. They
presented an arrest warrant. Because I’m a lawyer, they need a
special permit from the State Attorney’s Office and the Israel Bar
Association to arrest me, which they had
already received. They tied my hands with The guard
zip ties and led me outside. They transferred demanded
me to my home in Shfaram, and that’s where that I undress.
the hard part began. I did and
stayed in my
They led me into my home with my hands underwear. He
tied. My wife asked them to untie them so ordered me
my young kids wouldn’t see me like that, but to take off my
they refused. They asked if I had cash, and underwear as
I replied that I had 10,000 shekels (~2,700 well. I tried to
USD). They took documents and books from convince
the house. After the raid on my home, they him that there
took me to the police station in Shfaram, was no need,
where they put metal cuffs on my hands and and said I was
feet. It was hard to walk. They put me in an 53 years old
interrogation room, where I found that the and an Israeli
reason for my arrest was a Facebook post. citizen. I
[…] Then they took me to Megiddo Prison, thought that
which I’ve called Abu Ghraib ever since, might help,
because of the severe torture I underwent but the guard
there. They cursed me all the way to the threatened to
prison. When we arrived, my world turned beat me. I gave
upside down. I felt like I was in a jungle. in, feeling I
First, the guard demanded that I undress. I had no choice.
did and stayed in my underwear. He ordered
me to take off my underwear as well. I tried to convince him that
there was no need, and said I was 53 years old and an Israeli citizen.
I thought that might help, but the guard threatened to beat me. I
gave in, feeling I had no choice.

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They put me, entirely naked, in a small cell without a door, like
a fitting room in a clothes store. They brought in a hand-held
metal detector and put it between my legs, claiming I was hiding
something. In the room the cell was in, five young Palestinians
were searched, and the guards beat them, swore at them and
humiliated them. The guards called me an ass. They knew I was a
lawyer and wanted to humiliate me. But when I saw what they did
to the young guys, I felt better off compared to them.[…] When we
reached the room, they forced the young guys to kiss an Israeli
flag on the wall. Whoever refused was abused. One of the female
guards even took a picture with one of the detainees as he kissed
the flag. There was constant beating, cursing and humiliation.
When it was my turn, the officer excused me and told the guards
to skip me. I don’t know why, maybe because I’m a lawyer and an
Israeli citizen.

[…] For the first three days I was very frustrated. I hardly talked
to anyone and didn’t eat at all. The food was truly awful and
they gave us tiny amounts. We got one plate of rice a day for the
whole cell. Just rice, some white cheese, and
slices of bread and cucumber. We weren’t They forced
given any cutlery, so we had to eat with our the young
hands. I felt disgusted, helpless, frustrated guys to kiss
and humiliated. I didn’t understand how an Israeli flag
this was happening to me at my age, and on the wall.
it was very difficult to see the degradation Whoever
of those around me. I couldn’t grasp it. We refused was
didn’t sleep at all the first night. There was a abused. One
window in the cell, through which we heard of the female
detainees crying and shouting while guards guards even
beat them. The guards yelled out demands took a picture
that they bark like dogs. We heard some of with one of
the detainees actually bark after they were the detainees
hit. The guards laughed, of course. It was as he kissed
really hard to hear and see. the flag.
[…] They cut us off from the outside world. They confiscated
everything. There was nothing, no radio and no means of
communication. Each time a new detainee arrived, everyone

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 Palestinian prisoners with Israeli citizenship Welcome to Hell

would ask him what happened. There I felt

was a special unit whose role was to beat disgusted,
detainees. People who were beaten sat for helpless,
hours afterward, unable to speak. All this also frustrated
generated considerable psychological stress, and
of course. There was constant yelling. At night humiliated.
they would bang on doors, several times each I didn’t
night, and turn on flashlights. And that was in understand
addition to the beatings we heard. how this was
They’d count us three to four times a day. happening to
They would raid the cell, 16 people armed with me at my age,
batons, and beat each of us without us having and it was
done anything. I constantly heard detainees very difficult
shouting and the beatings and cursing from to see the
cells nearby. I felt that I was done for, fearing degradation
that I wouldn’t leave the prison alive, which of those
lacked any humane values. I heard horror around me.
stories from the other detainees in my cell I couldn’t
about what they went through. One had a grasp it.
broken leg that was bandaged in a plastic
bag. His condition required daily care but he was only given a
paracetamol pill from time to time. The other had an open wound
on his forehead from a hard blow to his head. When I asked the
guards to give them proper treatment, they’d yell at me that I
don’t understand and that it’s none of my business.

[...] That same day, I had a hearing at the court in Acre and they
took me there. The judge’s nails were painted with the pattern
of the Israeli flag. She immediately extended my detention. I got
angry and gave her the finger. When the guards saw that, they
slapped me, kicked me and swore at me. They took me out of
there with my hands and feet cuffed, pressing down on my head
and back so I was hunched over like a dog. They returned me to
Megiddo Prison and put me in a wing called Tora Bora. On the way,
I saw guards beating detainees. There were three or four guards
beating a detainee. I heard shouting and pleading, unbelievable
things. They put me in a solitary confinement cell that was black
and disgusting, full of cockroaches and other insects. It had no

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window or source of light, aside from a small opening in the door.

The next day, around 11:00 A.M., they put a young man in the
isolation cell next to mine. He kept screaming in pain. I tried to
speak to him through the door, asked him what his story was and
told him to calm down. He said he was in pain and was going to die.
He kept asking them to give him medical care
and calling out to the medic and the guard. […]
The whole
Every time a guard came I asked them to help
story was like
him, but each time they just cursed at me, told
a horror
me it was none of my business and ordered me
movie. I’m a
to shut up. He continued to shout and beg for
lawyer and
help until early morning, and then fell silent.
was living my
During the count I heard them call out several
life as usual.
times: "Mar’i, Mar’i." He didn’t reply. I heard
Suddenly, I
them open his door, and I peeked through
found myself
the opening in my door. They went into the
in the worst
cell and started beating him, I heard the kicks
place in the
landing on his body. Then I heard one of them
world. It
asking to call for the doctor and get a first aid
was a very
kit. The doctor arrived a few minutes later.
difficult
They stayed in the cell for over an hour. Later,
experience.
I heard one of them say in Arabic: "As long as you’re all healthy."
Everyone laughed and closed the door. I realized he was dead.
After about an hour, they returned with a wheeled stretcher.
They took the young man out, wrapped in a black bag, and left.
Later on, I learned that his name was ‘Abd a-Rahman Mar’i, 23,
and that he was a resident of Qarawat Bani Hassan and a father of
four children. I still I can’t forget his voice and his pleas.

[…] The whole story was like a horror movie. I’m a lawyer and
was living my life as usual. Suddenly, I found myself in the worst
place in the world. It was a very difficult experience. Now, giving
this testimony and recalling what happened there, I had trouble
breathing several times. Throughout my detention, I lost seven
to eight kilos in just 10 days. When I came home, my wife cried
when she saw me and my children were afraid of me, because I
hadn’t shaved the whole time and my hair was wild. I looked like a
different person.
Full testimony

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9.
Conclusion

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Con c l usion

Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and imprisoned in Israeli prisons

since 7 October 2023, most of them without trial. Testimonies B’Tselem collected
from 55 released male and female inmates, expose what is going on inside Israeli
prison facilities and tell the story of ongoing torture, abuse, inhuman conditions
and denial of basic needs such as food, water and medical care. The information
consistently repeated across these testimonies reveals an institutionalized,
efficient, systematic mechanism that has made violence, humiliation and
degradation integral to the routine imposed upon all Palestinians classified as
"security prisoners", in 17 different civilian and military prison facilities, since the
war began.

The testimonies reveal the policy implemented in these facilities since the
declaration of a "prison state of emergency" and the pursuant enactment of a
Temporary Order,136 in keeping with the stated agenda of Minister of National
Security Itamar Ben Gvir. They indicate that this policy, which entails violation of
the most basic human rights, is targeted at members of a specific ethnic-national
group – Palestinians. As part of this new policy, Palestinians held in Israeli prisons
are stripped of the basic package of rights to which they are entitled under Israeli
and international law, as well as other universal rights. Even if a small number of
these prisoners was, in fact, involved in committing the horrific crimes of 7 October,
that does not justify torture, let alone the creation of a network of torture camps
for all Palestinian prisoners.

The Convention Against Torture defines torture as "an act by which severe pain
or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for
such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession,
punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected
of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for
any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering
is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a
public official or other person acting in an official capacity".137

136 Temporary Order dated 16 and 26 October 2023, issued by the power vested in the IPS Commissioner under
Sections 80 and 80a(b) of the Prisons Ordinance [new version] 5732-1971.

137 See supra note 24.

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Various methods and actions that, in themselves, do not inflict pain or suffering
amounting to torture, may reach that level when carried out in combination.138
Torture is prohibited in any and all circumstances, no matter how exceptional,
both under international law and basic moral principles.

The State of Israel signed the Convention Against Torture and ratified it, but the
prohibition on torture was never incorporated into Israeli law. It was validated
in the 1999 High Court ruling in the torture case,139 but walked back in a later
decision, allowing for the use of torture in exceptional cases under the Shin Bet’s
"necessity interrogation" protocol.140

Several petitions concerning prison conditions for Palestinian inmates have been
submitted to the High Court of Justice since the start of the war. In its response
to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and others, the state
rejected allegations of inhuman treatment, abuse, starvation, denial of medical
treatment and denial of other basic living conditions, such as access to running
water or hygiene products.141 However, it did admit that, in keeping with the
minister’s new policy, cell occupancy was pushed beyond capacity, forcing some
prisoners to sleep on the floor; power was cut off and lighting was available only
at night; all personal belongings were confiscated; prisoners were cut off from the
outside world; and time outside was reduced to one hour a day.142 Relying on the
state’s admission, and the denial that came with it, the court ruled it unnecessary
to instruct the state "to do what it declares it is already doing" or "refrain from
doing what it has never done,"143 and dismissed the petition in limine. Other cases

138 See also, e.g.: Ann Maria Garcia Lanza de Netto v. Uruguay, Communication No. 8/1977, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/
OP/1 at 45 (1985); Aydin v. Turkey, European Court of Human Rights (Application No. 23178/94), Judgment
25.9.1997; Maritza Urrutia v. Guatemala, IACHR, Judgment of November 27, 2003.

139 See the torture case, supra note 80. The prohibition on torture was incorporated into guidelines issued
by then Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, which stated that other methods of interrogation could be em-
ployed in "necessity" cases, so long as they do not amount to torture. For more on this, see here.

140 See HCJ 9018/17 Feras Tabish v. Attorney General; see also, HCJ 5722/12 As’ad Abu Gosh et al. v. Attorney General.

141 See the state’s response in the living conditions case, supra note 75.

142 See para. 8 of the state’s response in the living conditions case, supra note 75.

143 Ibid., para. 31.

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relating to living or prison conditions are still pending, with the court having made
no ruling or issued orders nisi.144 The High Court of Justice has thereby greenlighted
the denial of Palestinian prisoners’ basic rights.

Meanwhile, judicial or administrative review of the arrests themselves has been

suspended de facto for weeks or even months.145 The court’s abstention from
intervening in this matter too, and the fact that it has knowingly allowed prisoners
to be almost completely isolated, underscores the court’s role in lending the gross
violation of prisoners’ human rights a façade of legality.

Minister Ben Gvir’s influence remains evident, but his policy could not have been
implemented without the cooperation of the entire system – from the prime
minister and the minister of defense to "gatekeepers" such as the attorney general,
the State Attorney’s Office and the Supreme Court, and finally, the media, which
showcases the cruel treatment of prisoners without a hint of criticism.146 All these
have helped Minister Ben Gvir fulfill his vision, whether actively or by tacit consent.

Given the severity of the acts, the extent to which the provisions of international
law are being violated, and the fact that these violations are directed at the
entire population of Palestinian prisoners daily and over time – the only possible
conclusion is that in carrying out these acts, Israel is committing torture that
amounts to a war crime and even a crime against humanity.

Since the prohibition on torture is absolute, Israel is obligated under international

law to investigate and prosecute everyone directly involved in the implementation
of these injurious, violent practices against Palestinian prisoners. Nevertheless,
since all state systems, including the judiciary, have been mobilized in support
of these torture camps – whether by turning a blind eye, by lending support,
or by flaunting these acts – Israeli investigative bodies cannot be expected to
fulfill these duties and hold those involved to account, certainly not actively or
effectively. Therefore, under the principle of complementarity established in the

144 HCJ 4268/24 Association for Civil Rights v. Minister of Defense et al. (regarding the closure of the Sde Tei-
man military prison facility); HCJ 1357/24 Association for Civil Rights et al. v. The Government (regarding the
denial of ICRC visits); food deprivation case, supra note 69; judicial review petition, supra note 18.

145 See pp. 28-31 of this report and supra notes 53 and 54.

146 See supra notes 4, 8 and 10.

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Rome Statute,147 the ICC and the international community must investigate and
promote criminal proceedings against individuals suspected of planning, directing
and committing these crimes.

At the time of writing, more than 9,000 people – Palestinians classified as "security
prisoners" – are being held by Israel in a network of torture camps, subjected to
the conditions and abuse described in this report. This reality is unacceptable and
fills us, Israelis and Palestinians who believe in justice, freedom and human rights,
with shame, anxiety and rage.

We appeal to all nations and to all international institutions and bodies to do

everything in their power to put an immediate end to the cruelties meted out on
Palestinians by Israel’s prison system, and to recognize the Israeli regime operating
this system as an apartheid regime that must come to an end.

147 Art. 17 of the Rome Statute.

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