Israel's Megiddo Prison: A tale of torture against Palestinian minors and adults

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS)
March 24, 2025 

Ramallah, Palestine - Megiddo Central Prison is one of the most notorious prisons where systematic torture, abuse, and the spread of diseases continues to occur against Palestinian detainees held there, including children. 

The Palestinian child, 17-year-old detainee Walid Khaled Ahmed from the village of Silwad east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, was martyred in Megiddo prison on Sunday evening. He was one of hundreds of children in Israeli detention centers who continue to face organized crimes and violations against them on a daily basis, including physical and psychological assault, sexual crimes, forcible starvation and severe medical deprivation. 

Since the start of the genocide, a number of Palestinians have been killed within the walls of Megiddo Prison, with Walid being the second martyr in just 20 days. Earlier this month, on March 3, detainee Khaled Abdullah was also martyred. 

Megiddo Prison has long been one of the central prisons that witnesses egregious acts of torture, a reality that has only gotten much worse since the start of the ongoing genocide. It is one of the main prisons holding Palestinian detainees, and includes a section for child detainees and young men below 18 years of age. 

Israeli occupation forces have circulated images of the systematic abuse that occurs there, showing prisoners being humiliated and tortured with the assistance of police dogs. According to testimonies and reports from legal teams who have visited the prison, Megiddo, like many other Israeli detention facilities, is also plagued by widespread disease and epidemics, which have only worsened in recent months. Among the most prominent diseases spreading there is Scabies skin disease, caused by a lack of hygiene, inadequate clothing, and overcrowding. This condition has led to the death of several detainees, and many others have suffered for months without receiving any medical treatment.

The PPPS affirms that the brutal prison system has left no method untried to torture prisoners, with the ultimate goal of killing them. This is happening during what is the deadliest period in the history of our people, with the crimes in Israeli prisons representing another facet of this genocide. The PPS also pointed out that time has now become the most decisive factor in the fate of thousands of prisoners, with the continued escalation of crimes committed against them, particularly the elderly, the sick, the wounded, and children.

In this context, the PPS reiterates its call to the international human rights system to launch an independent and neutral international investigation into the circumstances surrounding the martyrdom of dozens of prisoners, as a result of torture, starvation, medical neglect, sexual assaults, and other crimes. It also called for effective actions to hold the Israeli occupation leaders accountable for the war crimes they continue to commit against our people. The world must impose sanctions on the occupation in order to isolate it and force it to submit.

It is important to note that the child martyr Walid Ahmad is now the 63rd detainee to be killed in the occupation’s custody since the start of the genocide. As of March 2025, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons exceeds 9,500, a figure that does not include all of the detainees abducted from occupied Gaza.