The head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Abdullah Al-Zughari, stated that the period before October 7, 2023, is not the same as after it for the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. They have been subjected to heinous crimes, from killings and executions to brutal torture, sexual harassment, rape, starvation, and deprivation of their most basic human rights.
Al-Zughari confirmed that the number of martyrs among the prisoners inside prisons and detention centers after the outbreak of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is historically the highest since 1967, including hundreds of prisoners from Gaza. This phase was preceded by incitement from the Israeli government against the prisoners, reaching the point where Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for their execution.
Here is an excerpt from the interview conducted by Al Jazeera Net with Al-Zughari:
Could you start by telling us about your experience in Israeli detention?
I first experienced detention during the First Intifada in 1987, when I was only 16 years old. I was moved between the Dahariya, Beituniya, Megiddo, and Negev prisons. This experience played a significant role in shaping my national and resistance identity, as it happened under a brutal Israeli policy known then as "breaking bones" to thwart the Intifada.
Despite the brutal policies, lawyers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were allowed to visit periodically. My experience with intermittent detentions from 1987 to 1991 remains modest compared to the current brutal practices that Israel enacts against detainees in its prisons.
How have conditions in Israeli prisons changed over the years?
Each prisoner has a unique experience, which varies across periods. Israeli prisons have always represented a significant transformation in political, cultural, and resistance awareness for Palestinians. Within these prisons, organizational structures exist to support prisoners' lives.
Since October 7, 2023, however, conditions have drastically changed. The Israeli system has radically transformed its treatment of prisoners, whose lives have turned into a nightmare. They face brutal Israeli behavior that strips them of all human rights, confiscates personal belongings, and carries out extensive, oppressive relocations within the prisons.
What is the impact of Minister Ben-Gvir’s policies on the lives of prisoners?
The directives issued by the occupation authorities under Ben-Gvir have posed a serious and dangerous threat to the lives of prisoners. Prisons have seen a huge increase in detainees, severe overcrowding, and the deprivation of basic rights.
This humiliating and degrading racist policy affects all aspects of prisoners' lives, including their food and drink, resulting in significant weight loss of 30 to 40 kilograms per detainee and the widespread spread of diseases, particularly dangerous skin conditions.
What worsens this reality is the "medical killing" policy and the lack of necessary healthcare, leading to a significant increase in sick prisoners. Among them are children and female detainees with injuries and fractures resulting from repression and torture.
Ben-Gvir and his government aim to crush prisoners as a symbol of national resistance. However, this racist policy, which represents the ugly face of the occupation, is shattered by the resilience of the prisoners, evident among those who were released. Despite their suffering and physical pain, they demonstrate high spirits and affirm their belief in the inevitability of victory and freedom.
How do you assess the situation of child prisoners and female detainees?
All prisoners are subjected to the same oppressive policies, and the occupation authorities do not differentiate between children, women, the elderly, or the sick. According to documentation by the Palestinian Prisoners Club, over 1,000 children and more than 450 women, including young girls, students, and journalists, were detained after October 7, 2023.
The situation of child prisoners and female detainees is extremely harsh. They have been subjected to various forms of torture and deprivation of their human rights. Female detainees have faced sexual harassment, assaults, forced stripping, and degradation of dignity. Currently, 93 Palestinian women are detained in Damon and Hasharon prisons, and over 300 children are held in Ofer and Megiddo.
The occupation authorities deliberately make life difficult for children and female prisoners, from providing meager and poor-quality food to insufficient bathing periods and a lack of personal hygiene supplies, in addition to severe overcrowding in cells, which contributes to the spread of diseases.
How many Palestinian prisoners are there now, especially from Gaza?
Following October 7, 2023, the occupation launched large-scale arrest campaigns. According to our documentation, we recorded 10,800 arrest cases from the 1948 territories, Jerusalem, and the West Bank, involving men, women, and children, including previously released prisoners who were re-arrested. These campaigns were also accompanied by the theft of money, gold, and vehicle confiscation from detainees’ families.
However, these numbers do not include the thousands of detainees from Gaza following the genocide campaign, where they have suffered the worst and most heinous systematic torture crimes, leading to the martyrdom of hundreds, with others executed. Some of these crimes have surfaced within the Sde Teiman prison, with reports indicating that Gaza detainees were killed, executed, and subjected to limb amputations and rape.
These detainees continue to face enforced disappearance and an unknown fate, as the occupation refuses to disclose any information about them. Although lawyers managed to break through some Israeli restrictions around Gaza detainees and visit a few in Negev and Ofer, testimonies about them are shocking, confirming their harsh and dangerous conditions. Some remain handcuffed for days and weeks.
The occupation has resorted to what is called the "unlawful combatant" label, under which hundreds of Gaza detainees are held and deprived of all rights, including legal representation and lawyer visits, in disregard of all international agreements, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Although Sde Teiman prison was established after the genocide campaign on Gaza and is considered one of the main sites for brutal torture, sexual assault, starvation, and medical crimes, other prisons are equally dangerous, operating under the racist Israeli system and directly ordered by Ben-Gvir.
Israel uniquely holds the bodies of deceased prisoners. What is the latest on this file?
The occupation has been practicing this racist policy for a long time. The martyr Anis Doula has the oldest detained body, held since 1980. The number of deceased prisoners whose bodies are held by Israel has increased. We have a list of 33 prisoners from the national prisoner movement who died inside detention centers, including 26 killed after October 7, 2023. Their names are known to us, but we are certain that there are also hundreds of Gaza prisoners who were killed and executed, whose names and fates remain undisclosed by the occupation.
There are prisoners from before the Oslo Accords, as well as others sentenced to life imprisonment, for whom political agreements and exchange deals have failed to secure their release. What is their fate?
The occupation has obstructed efforts to release these prisoners. Years ago, there was an agreement under U.S. sponsorship to release them in four phases, but the occupation reneged on releasing the fourth group, which included about 30 detainees.
Currently, the number of prisoners serving life sentences has exceeded 600, many of whom have been incarcerated for more than 20 years. With the occupation halting all forms of negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and the absence of any political prospects with the far-right Israeli government, these prisoners, especially those serving life sentences, have no path to freedom except through exchange deals.
10-7-2024