Prisons as a Frontline of Genocide: Two Years of War Crimes Against Palestinian Political Detainees

Fact Sheet by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

October 7, 2025

Ramallah, occupied Palestine - Two years since the start of the Israeli occupation’s escalating genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip, and the comprehensive aggression across historic Palestine, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and other prisoner institutions present a fact sheet on the issue and reality of political prisoners. This includes key data and figures as well as an overview of the horrific conditions in the Israeli occupation’s prisons which constitute one aspect of the genocide, whereby Palestinian political detainees are being subject to unprecedented settler-colonial violence and erasure.

Over the past two years, detainees have been exposed to deliberate murder behind bars at the hands of the Israeli occupation’s prison services. This includes direct killing such as beating detainees to death, and other indirect killings through inhumane policies including denial of the right to medical care and starvation. These actions, which existed before but intensified greatly since the genocide in Gaza, have led to a record number of Palestinian political prisoners killed. There have been 77 identified murdered Palestinian political prisoners since the genocide began, while dozens of other detainees abducted from Gaza were martyred and their bodies remain withheld by occupation authorities and subject to enforced disappearances.

This figure stands as irrefutable evidence of one of the most brutal periods in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement, which has long resisted a prison system designed to physically and psychologically destroy detainees.

Relying on hundreds of documented testimonies, material evidence, and public threats by Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the far-right Israeli government, the PPS and other institutions affirm that the crimes against prisoners constitute large-scale war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Israeli judicial system, including its Supreme Court, has provided legal cover for this brutality.

These crimes include torture, killing, looting, starvation, the intentional spread of disease, denial of medical care, sexual assaults including rape, and collective isolation — all aimed at the systematic killing of Palestinian prisoners. The scale of violence over the past two years has exceeded all legal definitions, violating international laws and conventions, amid unprecedented global inaction — especially due to the protection granted to these crimes by international powers, chiefly the United States.

Nevertheless, as human rights institutions, and despite the bleakness of the reality, we cannot ignore the role of principled human rights advocates, nor the importance of activating international decisions that support our people’s right to freedom and self-determination.

While the occupying state continues to commit its ongoing crime of genocide over the past two years, we are now witnessing the continued detention of dozens of activists from the Sumud Flotilla who, in their testimonies, revealed that they were subjected to abuse, ill-treatment, and detention under harsh conditions. This has been accompanied by public threats made by the Ben Gvir against the activists, whom he described as “terrorists.” In this context, the institutions express their salute to all the activists who attempted to break the siege imposed on our people in Gaza.

Key Policies and Violations Documented by Prisoner Rights Institutions

We have documented an unprecedented escalation in the scale and scope of systematic crimes and violations widely practiced against Palestinian political prisoners since the beginning of the genocide. Among the most prominent of these crimes are:

  • Torture in all its physical and psychological forms.
  • Systematic starvation and denial of sufficient and balanced food.
  • Medical crimes, including denial of treatment and deliberate imposition of conditions that lead to the spread of diseases and epidemics.
  • Collective isolation and policies of deprivation affecting all aspects of prison life.
  • Systematic repression and attacks carried out by special units of the Israeli Prison Services, notably the Keter, Metzada, and Nahshon units.
  • Violent physical assault, including the use of gas, stun grenades, and electroshock weapons.
  • Policies of humiliation, including strip searches and sexual assault, including rape.
  • Using illness as a tool of torture, as seen in the outbreak of scabies skin disease.
  • Psychological terror, solitary confinement, and threats of murder.
  • Enforced disappearance has also become a policy, particularly targeting detainees from Gaza.

Additionally, there has been a massive surge in the use of the policies of “administrative detention” and “unlawful combatants” both of which allow detention without trial or charge for indefinite periods without due process.

 

 

Martyred Prisoners: The Most Violent Era in the History of the Prisoner Movement

The number of martyred Palestinian political prisoners whose identities have been confirmed has reached 77 people, all of whom were killed through either torture, starvation, or denial of medical treatment, or a combination of them all. These are only those whose identities have been revealed; the bodies of dozens of detainees from Gaza who have been killed remain forcibly disappeared.

In addition, occupation authorities continue to withhold the bodies of 85 martyred prisoners who were killed in detention, 74 of whom were martyred since the start of the genocide.

The total number of martyrs of the Palestinian prisoner movement since the occupation of 1967 is estimated at 314 people, according to documentation compiled over the decades.

We emphasize here that the occupation’s claims of opening “investigations” into the circumstances of some prisoner deaths and killings — following formal requests from certain human rights institutions — are nothing more than a policy of deception and deliberate stalling.

The Case of Palestinians Detained from Gaza

The testimonies and accounts of detainees from Gaza have marked a pivotal shift in understanding the level of brutality practiced by the occupation system. These testimonies have revealed an unprecedented pattern of systematic torture, beginning from the moment of arrest, through the stages of interrogation, and continuing into prolonged periods of detention.

The methods of repression and abuse have varied, ranging from physical and psychological torture, to beatings, starvation, and deliberate medical crimes — in addition to sexual assault. Taken together, these acts constitute a fully developed policy of extermination and genocide inside prisons and military camps.

These crimes have led to the killing of dozens of detainees, alongside field executions carried out by occupation forces during arrest. According to official data, human rights organizations have so far identified 46 martyred Palestinians among those abducted from Gaza, out of a total of 77 prisoners killed since the start of the genocide. Meanwhile, the occupation continues to conceal the fate of dozens of other martyred Gaza detainees.

It is also worth noting that the occupation authorities have established several camps and special sections inside prisons specifically for Gaza’s detainees. Most notable among them is the Sde Teiman camp, which has become a central site of torture and killings, and the Rakevet section, located underground in Ramla Prison, which stands as a stark example of enforced disappearance and systematic torture.

The vast majority of Gaza’s detainees officially acknowledged by the prison administration have been classified as “unlawful combatants” — one of the most prominent legal frameworks that has institutionalized torture and other grave violations against Gaza detainees, and allows their detention without trial or charge indefinitely.

Around 20,000 Arrest Cases in the West Bank, Including Jerusalem, Since the Start of the War of Extermination

(Note: This figure does not include arrests in Gaza, estimated in the thousands, nor those in the 1948-occupied territories.)

Since the genocide, the number of cases of arrest in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, has reached approximately 20,000, including around 1,600 arrests among children and about 595 among women. This figure includes those who were arrested and remain in detention, as well as those who were later released. It marks a historic and unprecedented number of arrests over just two years. It is important to note that this number does not include cases of arrest among Gaza’s residents, estimated in the thousands, nor arrests that occurred in the 1948-occupied territories.

These mass arrests in the West Bank have been accompanied by unprecedented crimes and violations, including brutal beatings, acts of terror against detainees and their families, widespread vandalism and destruction of homes, confiscation of vehicles, money, and gold, and the extensive destruction of infrastructure — particularly in Tulkarem, Jenin and their refugee camps. Violations also included the demolition of prisoners’ family homes, use of family members as hostages, use of detainees as human shields, and field executions. Moreover, arrests have been used as a cover for illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank.

The total number of arrests since the beginning of the genocide includes: Those detained from their homes, at military checkpoints, those who surrendered under pressure, those taken as hostages, and individuals held for long hours under field interrogation.

Widespread field interrogations have targeted thousands since the beginning of the genocide, during which occupation soldiers have committed crimes comparable to those in formal detention centers.

 

 

Categories of Arrests

  • Journalists: A total of 202 journalists have been arrested since the start of the genocide. The majority were either placed under “administrative detention” – detention without trial or charge -  or faced charges related to what the occupation calls “incitement” — essentially detaining individuals for freedom of expression. Two journalists from Gaza, Nidal Al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdel Wahid, remain under enforced disappearance.
  • Doctors and Medical Staff: According to the Ministry of Health, about 360 medical professionals have been arrested, including three who died in detention due to torture:
    Iyad Al-Rantisi, Adnan Al-Barsh, and Ziad Al-Dalu.

📌 Data and Statistics on the Number of Prisoners – October 2025

The number of prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons has more than doubled, with the majority of detainees held under administrative detention, meaning without charge. The issue of administrative detention has become one of the most significant developments in the prisoner file.

This data is based on reports from prisoner advocacy institutions and figures released by the Israeli Prison Service up to October 2025.

  • Total number of Palestinian political prisoners: Over 11,100 people held in the Israeli occupation’s prisons, majority held under administrative detention without trial or charge, or are awaiting trial. (This number does not include detainees held in military camps run by the Israeli army.) It is the highest recorded total since the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, according to documentation by relevant institutions.
  • Sentenced prisoners: Over 1,460 individuals currently serving sentences.
  • Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment or facing life sentence charges: Around 350, including 303 already sentenced, and 40 facing indictments for life sentences.
    • Abdullah Al-Barghouti holds the highest sentence: 67 life terms.
    • Followed by Ibrahim Hamed: 54 life terms.
  • Prisoners detained since before the Oslo Accords: 17 prisoners, including four who have been held since 1986: Ibrahim Abu Mokh, Ibrahim Bayadseh, Ahmed Abu Jaber, and Samir Abu Nima.
  • Prisoners sentenced between 10 and 20 years: 131 people
  • Prisoners sentenced between 21 and 30 years: 166 people
  • Female prisoners: 53 women are currently held behind bars, including three from Gaza, and two minor girls.
  • Child prisoners: Over 400 children are currently detained, mostly in Ofer and Megiddo prisons.
  • Pre-trial detainees: Around 3,380 individuals are awaiting trial (as of October 2025).
  • “Administrative detainees”: 3,544 detainees, making it the largest category of prisoners compared to sentenced or pre-trial detainees, or “unlawful combatants”.
  • “Unlawful combatants”: 2,673 detainees classified under this designation, though the number does not include all Gaza detainees held in military camps. This classification also applies to Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.

Prisoners’ Numbers Before the Genocide

📌 The total number of prisoners before the genocide exceeded 5,250 people, including around 40 female prisoners and 180 children. The number of “administrative detainees” stood at approximately 1,320 people.

Since the beginning of the genocide, occupation authorities have denied prisoners' families the right to visit, and have also banned the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting prisoners in detention.

It is also important to note that Palestinian human rights institutions are facing severe challenges and a systematic campaign of elimination, which has escalated to an unprecedented level — particularly after the United States designated the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association as a “terrorist” organization, and imposed sanctions on three other organizations: Al-Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights.

All the data used by these institutions is based on: Legal teams who visit and follow up on prisoners, testimonies of released prisoners, and daily monitoring and documentation.

The institutions renew their call on the international system to shed its cloak of inaction and complicity in the face of this extermination war. These crimes have reached a level that words can no longer describe. What is happening is part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing and erasure, and the violations committed against prisoners and detainees are a direct extension of the war of extermination and genocide. The ongoing international silence in the face of these crimes is a violation of humanity as a whole, and the consequences of this genocide will extend to all who have used inaction as a pretext to evade their responsibilities.

To access the reports, fact sheets, and statements issued by the three institutions over the past two years of the war, please refer to the following official websites:

 

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