Exposing The System: An Investigative Critique Of Israel’s Detention Regime, 10,000+ Palestinians Held.

From Mass Detentions To Institutional Torture:

Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s number of Palestinian detainees has surged to over 10,800, excluding those still unaccounted for in military-run camps. What began as a spike in arrests post-war quickly hardened into a systemised regime of detention, devoid of legal transparency. Former prisoner Sami Khalili, released in February 2024 after 22 years, summarised the shift chillingly:

“This is the worst time in the history of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The prisoners have no rights. … Our isolation was complete”.

This pattern of systemic abuse, reported by B’Tselem as far earlier but intensified dramatically since the war, illustrates not sporadic violations but structural violence. According to their report “Welcome to Hell”, “Israel’s prison system as a whole… turned into a network of torture camps”.

Torture By Design: Testimonies From Former Inmates.

A UN report corroborates surviving detainees’ horror stories: waterboarding, electric shocks, the release of dogs, suspension from ceilings, starvation and sexual violence, all in clear violation of international humanitarian law. One detailed account involved:

• Stripping detainees and humiliating them before civilians, who filmed the abuse while laughing, pouring hot water on their heads, and bragging about “Hamas terrorists” being punished.
• At least one former inmate reported detainees being sodomised with a fire-extinguisher hose and electrocuted by prison guards, causing severe physical and psychological trauma.

These revelations are reinforced by Amnesty International’s review, which confirms a sharp rise in arbitrary arrests, administrative detention without trial, and widespread humiliating abuse, including forced kneeling, singing Israeli songs, and denial of basic dignity.

Starvation, Medical Neglect, And Death In Custody:

Food in Israeli prisons is reportedly minimal, consisting of four to six bread slices per meal or nothing, possibly accompanied by a weekly boiled vegetable dish, with negligible protein and fruit. Many inmates endured severe malnutrition and dehydration. Medical care was virtually non-existent, even for serious injuries or chronic illnesses. One child prisoner recounted removing his dental stitches with help from cellmates after repeated requests were ignored.

Dr. M.K., a doctor held at Ofer Prison, described rampant skin diseases, asthma, dermatitis, and immune suppression due to unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. “There is a doctor, but we never see him,” he explained.

At least 60+ detainees have died in custody since the conflict, many from untreated injuries, starvation, or chronic conditions neglected by authorities. Thaer Abu Asab reportedly died after being beaten for asking about a ceasefire; cellmates stated he was assaulted repeatedly afterwards.

Children As Political Prisoners:

Israel remains unique in its systematic prosecution of children within military courts, with charges as severe as stone-throwing punishable by up to 20 years in prison. By year-end 2024, 112 children remained held under administrative detention, the highest number recorded by Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP) since monitoring began in 2008.

Ahmad Manasra, arrested at 13, is emblematic of this injustice. He suffered crushing injuries inflicted by civilians, was held until reaching 14, just so he could be tried under new legislation, and endured nearly a decade in solitary confinement. In 2021, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Released in April 2025, his experience stands as a powerful indictment of systemic cruelty.

Denial, Deflection and Coercion: The Official Israeli Position.

Despite mounting empirical evidence, Israeli officials vehemently deny allegations of torture or systemic abuse. Prime Minister Netanyahu reasserts that the war and arrests are conducted under lawful frameworks in response to Hamas violence, not in violation of humanitarian norms.

Even when Israeli rights groups like B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, Israel publicly accuse the government of genocide, officials dismiss it as propagandistic and antisemitic, reaffirming that Israel only targets Hamas militants, not civilians.

Broader Context: Civilian Actors And International Alarm.

Yuli Novak, leader of B’Tselem, framed the crisis as an existential reckoning for Israeli society, one where occupation, apartheid, and dehumanisation precede and enable wartime violence:

“The conditions enabling this violence, decades of occupation… preceded the October 7 Hamas attacks”.

Meanwhile, UN human rights experts called the abuses “the tip of the iceberg,” demanding international observers in detention facilities, given the Israeli state’s refusal to provide access to the Red Cross since October 2023.

Verdict: A System Under Scrutiny.

• Abuse is not anecdotal but widespread and consistent across prison facilities in Israel.
• Administrative detention and “unlawful combatant” status have become de facto legal mechanisms for eroding due process.
• Children and vulnerable populations suffer disproportionately with no minimal safeguards.
• Government denial persists even as evidence mounts, from multiple credible sources, detainee testimonies, and international bodies.
• The moral burden now rests on the international community to push for legal redress, independent investigation, and judicial protection for Palestinian detainees.

If justice must begin somewhere, it starts by refusing to normalise nor ignore state-sanctioned systems of indefinite detention, torture, and subjugation.

Conclusion: A System Of Control, Not Justice.

The evidence is overwhelming: Israel’s prison system is not designed to uphold justice; it is engineered to suppress, humiliate, and control. From the mass incarceration of Palestinians without charge, to the routine use of torture and forced confessions, this is not a legal process; it is the weaponisation of incarceration under a regime of apartheid.

Thousands of Palestinians are kidnapped by the IDF or imprisoned without ever being charged, many for months or even years under administrative detention based on undisclosed “secret evidence.” In countless cases, there is no evidence at all. Detainees, children, students, journalists, and medics are subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, starvation, sexual humiliation, and threats against their families to force confessions. This is not due process; this is systemic coercion.

Others are jailed for crimes they did not commit, tried in Israeli military courts with a 99% conviction rate, where international fair trial standards are non-existent. Former detainees describe terrifying interrogations, denial of medical care, solitary confinement, and psychological torture. Medical professionals and human rights groups confirm cases of amputations, untreated wounds, starvation, and deaths in custody. This is not law enforcement, it is deliberate dehumanisation.

And yet, the Israeli government continues to deny this egregious crime, claiming its actions are legal, necessary, and security-driven, even as it hides evidence, bars international monitors, and shields war criminals from accountability. While Israel demands the world’s sympathy over hostages held in Gaza, it has no intention of upholding any ceasefire agreements or prisoner swap deals. Instead, it obstructs negotiations, militarises diplomacy, and uses the hostage issue to justify further violence, displacement, and death.

As many analysts, rights groups, and even families of Israeli hostages have observed, Israel’s leaders are not seeking the safe return of captives; they are weaponising their suffering. What emerges is a regime not only indifferent to Palestinian lives but willing to sacrifice its own citizens to prolong the war and avoid accountability. Its rhetoric on hostages is hollow, its propaganda calculated to escalate conflict, stoke fear, and crush any pathway to peace.

This is not a breakdown of the system; it is the system working exactly as designed. When thousands can be disappeared without charge, tortured in silence, or jailed for resisting occupation, it reveals a carceral regime whose real objective is domination through terror.

If the international community continues to look away, it is complicit in the machinery of apartheid, impunity, and war crimes. The Israeli prison system today is not just a graveyard of legal norms; it is a frontline in the erasure of a people. Justice will never come from within it. Justice demands dismantling it.

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