“We are here to kill you, not to assist you,” Israeli prison guards told Mohammad al-Mallah when he requested medical care during his imprisonment. Al-Mallah was released in January 2025 after 29 years in jail as part of the second phase of the captives-for-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel. Throughout his incarceration, he witnessed and experienced the systematic abuse and medical neglect to which thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are subjected—leaving lasting physical and psychological scars.
Since October 7, 2023, thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and forcibly disappeared by Israel, with the exact number of detainees from Gaza still unconfirmed. However, reports show that all of these prisoners have endured severe abuse at the hands of Israeli forces.
In conversation with Peoples Dispatch, al-Mallah detailed the routine beatings inflicted on prisoners. Recalling a day in October 2024, he described how Israeli guards stormed the cells and forced prisoners to kneel with their arms behind their backs. “I was kneeling among the other prisoners when the jailers lifted me into the air and then started beating me violently,” al-Mallah says. “They struck me on both sides of my rib cage, causing severe pain, especially when sleeping. The pain lasted for months.”
“Some prisoners lost their lives because of the beatings, which were used as a systematic method of targeted assassination by the Israel Prison Services,” he continues. “One of those prisoners was Thayer Abu Assab, who was beaten in front of the others detained in the same section, struck repeatedly with metal and wooden sticks until he died.”
Since October 2023, the pre-existing systematic violence against Palestinian prisoners escalated dramatically. Personnel from the Israel Prison Services (Shabas) implemented measures such as starvation, sleep deprivation, and prolonged shackling in stress positions—all enforced under policies championed by former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
According to Helmi al-Araj from the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees, these inhumane policies were designed to introduce fear among Palestinians, aiming to suppress resistance. “Palestinians have never feared prison and have rather considered it a field of struggle,” he explains, emphasizing that Israel’s intensified repression was meant to break their resilience.
Read more: The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement: the struggle behind bars
Outright physical abuse and torture in Israeli detention centers were compounded by attacks on prisoners’ dignity and well-being—most notably, severe reductions in food and hygiene supplies. After the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, Israeli authorities increased the number of prisoners per cell from six to 11, while basic necessities became even scarcer.
According to al-Mallah, an entire cell was forced to share the same meagre quantity of shampoo and toothpaste that a single prisoner had been allotted before October 2023. Prisoners were not given any additional detergents or soap to wash their hands or clothes. Instead, they were forced to use shampoo for everything. To make their situation even worse, Israeli soldiers denied them access to spaces where they could dry their clothes, forcing them to wear damp garments that exacerbated skin diseases and other health issues.
Nail clippers were confiscated, razors were banned, and nearly 150 prisoners were forced to share a single shaving machine. “Prisoners were also not allowed to shave each other’s heads or beards,” al-Mallah explains. “Each person had to do it alone, which made the process very difficult.”
At the same time, food and water rations were reduced, further weakening prisoners’ immune systems. In these conditions, skin diseases spread rapidly, yet no medical assistance was provided. Instead, al-Mallah describes, the Shabas deliberately transferred prisoners suffering from scabies into non-infected cells, fueling the outbreak. His account matches testimonies from other recently released prisoners. Medical care, including basic preventive treatments for scabies, was denied until Israeli guards themselves began contracting infections.
Health for no one
Prisoners with chronic illnesses faced the same brutal treatment. Access to essential medication and specialist care was routinely denied, leaving life-threatening conditions untreated. According to al-Araj, this mistreatment originally affected cancer patients the most. After October 7, however, the situation worsened. In al-Mahall’s experience, doctors and nurses were completely removed from prisons, leaving detainees with no access to proper medical attention.
Instead, the only “medical staff” present were paramedics—prison guards with some first aid training, al-Mallah explains. These guard-paramedics sometimes wore medical uniforms, other times prison guard outfits, but their role was anything but medical. Rather than facilitating care, they even resorted to using pepper spray to silence prisoners who requested medical attention.
In cases where diseases were deliberately left untreated, the consequences were painful and often fatal. Prisoners Walid Daqqa and Motaz Abu Znaid were among those killed by the combination of inhumane living conditions, untreated illnesses, and systematic violence. The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees documented dozens of such cases, including those of a prisoner suffering from diabetes, whose worsening condition led to gangrene and then limb amputation. He ultimately died as a result of the neglect and abuse.
Read more: Remember the Palestinian doctors killed by Israel
At this point, every Palestinian imprisoned by Israel should be considered ill, says Helmi al-Araj, given the deliberate deterioration of healthcare and living conditions in detention centers. “Before October 7, there were 600 sick prisoners out of a total of 5,200,” al-Araj explains. “Now, all 10,500 prisoners—excluding those arrested from Gaza, whose number remains unknown—must be regarded as sick.”
Yet, the only reliable source of information on the health and conditions of detainees comes from released prisoners like al-Mallah. Lawyers remain largely blocked from visiting those they are meant to defend. “No organizations or institutions advocating for prisoners’ rights have been allowed access to these camps [like Sde Teiman], not even the International Committee of the Red Cross,” al-Araj states.
No distinction between health workers and others
Despite Israeli efforts to suppress reports on the abuse and torture within its prisons and camps, dozens of released prisoners have confirmed a consistent pattern of violence—including attacks on health workers.
“Israel does not distinguish between health workers and others,” says al-Araj. Since the start of the genocide, numerous testimonies have emerged detailing the targeting and mistreatment of Palestinian health workers, many of whom were forcibly disappeared from hospitals and health centers or abducted at checkpoints. According to Healthcare Workers Watch, at least 384 Palestinian health workers have been detained since October 7, 2023, with the organization listing four of them as confirmed killed in custody. In total, over 1,200 Palestinian health workers have been killed during the genocide.
While international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) have repeatedly condemned Israel’s attacks on Palestinian healthcare and demanded the release of imprisoned medics, their appeals have led to little tangible results. However, al-Araj stresses that international pressure—beyond multilateral agencies, extending to health workers and solidarity groups—has likely prevented even more doctors and nurses from being killed by Israeli forces. “Without pressure from the international community, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya would have been killed [already],” he concludes.
