A disturbing new report by the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has shed light on the harrowing conditions faced by Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. Based on the accounts of fifty-five former detainees, the results present a picture of systematic abuse, torture, and neglect of prisoners, raising major concerns about the way the administration of the Jewish state treats its inmates.
The report, titled “Welcome to Hell,” takes its name from the words of an Israeli soldier, as recounted by Fouad Hassan, a forty-five-year-old Palestinian detainee. This is how Hassan and the other prisoners were greeted when they arrived at Megiddo Prison, which is located in a remote part of northern Israel, he told investigators. It turns out that the remark was not just a nasty jest but also a clear indicator of the appalling circumstances that those detained in Israeli custody would have to endure.
Based on extensive investigations conducted by B’Tselem, Palestinian detainees since October 7 have suffered from widespread and institutionalized torture, sexual assault, physical abuse, and severe psychological anguish. Prisoners have endured cruel treatment, which includes malnutrition, lack of sleep, and denial of essential medical care. The report also includes information on sixty Palestinian inmates who have died since the start of the Gaza War, of whom 48 died in army prisons and 12 in the Prison Service’s care. According to the group, the testimony obtained show how quickly over a dozen Israeli military and civilian prisons were converted into “de-facto torture camps.”
Further UN investigations similarly detail the mistreatment and torture of almost ten thousand Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. The allegations include claims of guards participating in sexual assault and other types of humiliation, playing loud music to inflict psychological torment, and lighting cigarettes on the bodies of inmates. A prisoner was allegedly beaten to death for just inquiring about the status of a cease-fire.
A recent Israeli court case involving accusations against Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) personnel of gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman military installation has brought more attention to the topic. A response to the accusations resulted in hundreds of Israelis uniting in support of the troops who were implicated.
As noted by Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the lack of outrage among Israelis in response to the revelations is telling. “The indifference to all these things defines Israel,” Levy wrote, drawing a troubling parallel to the United States’ Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where nine prisoners were killed over twenty years. In contrast, Israel has seen sixty Palestinian detainees die in just ten months.
B’Tselem’s report concludes that the actions of the Israeli government amount to torture and could potentially be classified as war crimes or even crimes against humanity. Jacobin, a leftist publication, has echoed these concerns, pointing to the growing consensus within the international legal community that Israel cannot effectively investigate itself for these alleged crimes. The results of the research, together with the Israeli public’s indifferent reaction, indicate that the existing state of affairs is untenable and that external accountability—possibly via the International Criminal Court—might be required to resolve these serious abuses of human rights.
