Palestinian prisoners endure severe levels of torture, degradation, and inhumane treatment inside Israeli prisons. These violations are evident in the mistreatment of sick, wounded, and hunger-striking prisoners, as well as the torture inflicted on healthy prisoners. The policy of torture and inhumane treatment has long been employed by the occupying state against prisoners. The prisoner movement has documented cases where prisoners developed diseases, disabilities, or died as a result of military interrogations. Furthermore, excessive force has been used by prison units or special forces during raids on prison sections, resulting in injuries or fatalities among the prisoners.
While the policy of violence has been ongoing, the Prison Service launched an unprecedented attack on prisoners in all Israeli prisons after October 7, implementing several policies that turned prisons into death traps for Palestinian prisoners. The policy of physical assaults emerged in terms of severe beatings with sticks and batons, and the use of tear gas canisters during raids on detention cells, or security checks. A large number of prisoners in various prisons reported being subjected to severe beatings at the hands of prison units or special units. These physical assaults were accompanied by depriving prisoners of any medical aid or transferring them to prison clinics, which in many cases led to the prisoner being left on the ground bleeding for long hours or suffering from the effects of injuries, which eventually led to multiple deaths during the year.
The number of martyrs within the prisoner movement has reached 233. Some of these individuals succumbed due to deliberate medical neglect by the Prison Service, while others died as a result of severe beatings and torture in Israeli prisons. This number is the number of martyrs before the year 2023. From the beginning of 2023 until October 7, child prisoner Wadea Abu Ramoz was martyred on 25 January 2023, after he was injured following the storming of the town of Silwan, and his death was announced after being detained in the hospital. Prisoner Ahmad Abu Ali from Yatta near Hebron was martyred on 10 February 2023 due to the policy of medical neglect and procrastination in providing treatment, while prisoner Mahmoud Hamdan was detained and executed by the occupation forces on 1 March 2023. In addition, prisoner Khader Adnan was killed on 2 May 2023, after he began an open hunger strike that lasted for 86 days.