The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has issued a harrowing new report detailing widespread and systematic abuse against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including physical torture, electric shocks, and deliberate starvation, raising alarms over the fate of more than 10,800 prisoners, including women and children.

In a briefing distributed to journalists on Monday, PPS presented a summary of first-hand testimonies gathered during prison visits conducted by its legal team throughout the first half of July. The evidence points to what the organization called “systematic crimes” committed by the Israeli Prison Service as part of a broader pattern of repression and inhumane treatment.

According to the report, prisoners recounted extreme physical torture, including broken ribs, electric shocks, extinguishing cigarettes on detainees' bodies, and being shot with rubber bullets in the limbs. Numerous cases of deliberate starvation, denial of medical care, and the spread of contagious skin diseases like scabies were also documented.

The PPS emphasized that these acts are not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated and escalating pattern of abuse targeting the Palestinian prisoner population, especially following October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its ongoing military campaign on Gaza.

The society reiterated its urgent call on international human rights organizations and legal institutions to break their silence and take concrete action to hold Israeli leaders accountable. The PPS called for the imposition of sanctions on Israel and for it to be stripped of the “international immunity” that has enabled its crimes to continue without consequence.

“We demand the restoration of the real role of the international human rights system, and an end to the paralysis that has afflicted it since the onset of the Israeli genocide,” the statement read.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel — backed by the United States — has waged what rights groups and international legal experts have called a genocide against the people of Gaza. This campaign has resulted in more than 200,000 Palestinian casualties, including tens of thousands of women and children killed, over 11,000 missing persons, and massive displacement of the civilian population.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued multiple rulings demanding a halt to the genocidal campaign, but Israel has defied these orders, continuing its military onslaught, enforced famine, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.

As part of this broader war, Palestinian prisoners have become frontline victims of Israeli reprisals, with detention centers turning into sites of organized torture and dehumanization.

The PPS urged international civil society, governments, and human rights advocates to act immediately to protect detainees and pressure Israel to cease its violations. The organization warned that unless urgent intervention is made, the lives of thousands of prisoners remain at immediate risk, particularly amid widespread reports of starvation, untreated medical conditions, and escalating violence inside detention facilities.

The latest revelations further underscore the depth of Israel’s repressive apparatus against Palestinians, both inside and outside prison walls, as calls for justice and accountability grow louder across the globe. (ILKHA)