By Romana Rubeo 
Palestinian prisoners are subject to “rampant violence” and “deprivation in Israel’s prison system”, The Washington Post said in a report on Monday.
The paper reportedly spoke to 11 former prisoners and six lawyers, “examined court records and reviewed autopsy reports, revealing rampant, sometimes deadly violence and deprivation by Israeli prison authorities.”
According to the report, “the details of the prisoners’ deaths were recounted by eyewitnesses and corroborated by doctors from Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI)”.
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Overcrowding
The report cites Jessica Montell, executive director of the Israeli rights group HaMoked, as saying that the system is “very overcrowded” and that “violence is pervasive.”
Even Israeli intelligence chief Ronen Bar warned in a letter to prison authorities on June 26 that “conditions in the country’s jails could lead to more international legal action”, as “the prison system, built for 14,500 inmates, was housing 21,000 (…) not including an estimated 2,500 detainees from Gaza”.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded in a post on X to Bar’s letter saying that “the solution to prison overcrowding would be capital punishment,” the report noted.
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One of the prisoners interviewed by The Washington Post reported that Abdulrahman Bahash, a 23-year-old Palestinian prisoner, was beaten to death by Israeli guards in the prison of Megiddo.
“Guards went at them ‘in a crazy way’, the prisoner said. ‘They used their batons, they kicked us … all over our bodies’,” the prisoner is quoted as saying.
“Bahash returned with deep bruises, complaining his ribs might be broken. When he sought medical assistance, his prisonmate said, he was sent back with Acemol, a simple pain killer,” the report continued, noting that “Bahash died about three weeks later, on Jan. 1”.
According to the Post, a report from PHRI doctor Daniel Solomon “revealed signs of traumatic injury to the right chest and left abdomen, causing multiple rib fractures and spleen injury, potentially the result of assault”.
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Medical Negligence
“Reports of medical assistance being denied are pervasive in the testimonies of former prisoners,” the Post noted.
Muhammed al-Sabbar, 21, was detained by Israeli occupation forces for a post on social media.
“He had suffered since childhood from Hirschsprung’s disease, a condition that causes severe, painful bowel blockages. He needed a special diet and medication,” the report stated.
However, Sabbar’s stomach began to swell in October “after he was denied medication”. Sabbar died on February 28 and his death “could have been avoided if his chronic condition had been treated properly, according to (Dr. Danny) Rosin from PHRI, who sat in on his autopsy.”
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Raped with a Broom
According to the report, each former prisoner “said they had lost significant weight in jail, shedding between 30 and 50 pounds.”
“Journalist Moath Amarneh, 37, imprisoned for six months in Megiddo after filming demonstrations in the West Bank, said his six-person cell held up to 15 people during his stay,” the Post reported.
According to Amarneh, “the inmates would share a plate of vegetables and yogurt for breakfast. For lunch, each prisoner received half a cup of rice, and the cell — however many men were in it — would divvy up a plate of sliced tomatoes or cabbage.”
Ben-Gvir reportedly took credit for the policy of starvation, saying he was working to “worsen the conditions” of security prisoners to “create deterrence”.
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Muazzat Obayat, 37, was an amateur bodybuilder but he recounted he had lost “more than 100 pounds in nine months” in Israeli detention.
“He whispered as he described a guard sexually assaulting him with a broom,” the report stated, adding that Obayat said: “It is Guantánamo”.
Palestinians and rights groups have documented widespread abuse inside Israeli prisons even before Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza nearly 10 months ago.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.
Of course they had to use a broom, they’re impotent until they shoot a 6 year old in the face.
Monstrous cowards all. We watch what they do daily and they have the gall to say they are the chosen race? Jim Jones would have loved this murderous cult.