Israeli Prison Forces Shoot Palestinian Detainees with Rubber-coated Bullets

17/3/2025

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society

Ramallah, Palestine – Israeli occupation forces operating in central prisons are escalating their physical attacks on Palestinian political prisoners, including shooting them with rubber-coated bullets, leading to increasing injuries among the detainees, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said today in a new report.

Recent visits by the lawyers of the PPS to the Naqab and Ofer central prisons continue to reveal a high level of abuse, maltreatment and torture of Palestinian detainees. This report is based on the testimonies of 36 prisoners and highlights some of these testimonies.

Along with exposing new information about attacks on detainees, the report provides further proof of ongoing systematic abuse of detainees, even during Ramadan, which has reached unprecedented levels since the genocide in Gaza began in October 2023. This includes enforced starvation, deliberately unhygienic conditions leading to skin diseases and overall low immunity, deprivation from time outside, a change of clothes, showers and cleaning supplies, as well as many other crimes being practiced against them.

The PPS once again confirms that the Israeli occupation holds full responsibility for the killing of dozens of Palestinians in its custody since the genocide, and the ongoing threat to the lives of thousands who remain in Israeli prisons and military camps.

- Detainee (S. A.): "The frequency of assaults has escalated recently. Several days ago, repression units raided the room I’m in, and shot at detainees with rubber-coated bullets, which led to a number of prisoners sustaining injuries to their feet. The justification for the repression operation was the presence of writings on the walls of the cells.”

(S.A.) also pointed out that insults and humiliation are still very frequent. The detainees were only allowed outside in the yard once over the past month. He noted that the suffering of the prisoners is aggravated by the lack of cleaning supplies, which has contributed to the continued spread of diseases, specifically scabies skin disease."

- Detainee (R. A.): "The policy of repression is ongoing and has escalated recently, accompanied by assaults on prisoners with severe beatings, use of pepper spray, and rubber-coated bullets. Section 27 was raided recently, and as a result of the repression, a number of prisoners were injured.”

(R. A.) added that all the prisoners are suffering from malnutrition, poor quality and inadequate amounts of food. This issue extends to clothing, as there is a shortage of clothes, with each prisoner having only one change of clothes in addition to the prison uniform. It is difficult for prisoners to wash them due to the lack of spare clothes.

- Detainee (F. Y) was wounded with live ammunition during his arrest. Occupation soldiers fired live ammunition, injuring both his feet, including with the expanding (dumdum) bullets. Upon his arrest, he was taken to the occupation’s Afula Hospital for surgery, then remained in the Ramle Prison Clinic for two months. Afterwards, he underwent another surgery on his foot, was transferred to Megiddo prison for 90 days, and then to the Naqab prison. He continues to suffer from the effects of his injury. The general conditions in the prison have worsened his suffering, including through starvation, deprivation of basic necessities, escalation of repression operations, repeated raids, and constant humiliation, in addition to the spread of scabies.

- Detainee (Q. N.): "I have been suffering from scabies skin disease since last October, and to this day, the sores continue to cover my body with no improvement, despite the passing of all this time. Many prisoners are in the same condition, suffering from scabies for months without the basic conditions needed to limit the spread of the disease – particularly the shortage of clothing and lack of cleaning supplies."

- Detainee (M. A.): "Ten days ago, the section I’m in was raided by prison units; the prisoners were physically assaulted while the remaining food was destroyed despite the starvation policy that has burdened the prisoners. They also ruined part of the clothes, despite the shortage of clothes."

- Detainee (F. Y.) reported that prison repression units raided Section 11 of Ofer Prison after the detainees broke their fast (iftar), assaulted the prisoners, used police dogs, and threw gas bombs into the cells. A number of detainees were injured.

- A recently-visited child detainee also confirmed that the conditions inside the children’s sections are extremely difficult due to the continuation of systematic crimes against them, and are no different in severity to the crimes being committed against adult prisoners. He said the children are "dying of hunger."

- Detainee (N. Y.) told his lawyer that that the repression units raided Section 26 of Ofer Prison and assaulted the prisoners, accompanied by a large number of repression units and police dogs.

- Detainee (M. T.) told his lawyer that two days before Ramadan, repression units raided Section 25 of Ofer Prison, and a large number of the "Matzada" special prison forces entered his section. They assaulted all the prisoners in the cell, an operation of repression that lasted at least half an hour. During this time, the prisoners were transferred from Section 25 to Section 21 for a wide-ranging body search that lasted two hours. These attacks were corroborated by detainee (S.T.) who said that repression units raided Section 22 of Ofer Prison on the first day of Ramadan and assaulted the prisoners.

In this context, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society underscores that the scale of crimes in Israeli prisons has remained unchanged, despite over a year and five months passing since the genocide began. The parallel war on prisoners, carried out within the confines of detention centers, continues unabated. As time progresses, the suffering of the prisoners only deepens, and the passage of time has become a decisive factor in determining the fate of thousands of prisoners, including women and children.

The PPS reiterates its call for decisive action to hold the leaders of the occupation accountable for the ongoing war crimes committed against our people. The PPS demands the imposition of sanctions on the occupying force, which would lead to its international isolation, while reinvigorating the human rights system to fulfill its foundational mission. This would put an end to the troubling paralysis experienced by the international community during the ongoing genocidal assault and challenge the exceptional immunity granted to Israel by colonial powers, holding it accountable for its actions.

As of early March, the number of prisoners held in Israeli occupation prisons exceeds 9,500, including at least 350 children and 25 women.

ENDS