Young Palestinians endure beatings and starvation in Israeli prisons: Report
Palestinian children and youths detained in Israel’s Megiddo prison endure brutal conditions, including beatings, starvation and a denial of medical care, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has said.
The Palestinian Authority agency detailed ongoing abuses, citing retaliatory measures by prison authorities, intensified crackdowns, poor food quality and a lack of humanitarian provisions.
The commission highlighted the case of Jihad Maher Hajjaj, a 15-year-old boy from al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya in eastern Ramallah, who suffered severe chest pain and a suspected rib fracture after a prison guard beat him about a month ago.
“The blow was so hard it felt like my bone dislodged, and I’ve received no treatment or clarity on whether the fracture healed,” Hajjaj, detained since February 2024, reportedly told the commission’s lawyer.
Aws Mohammed Taher Dheib, 19, from Silwad, also in eastern Ramallah, lost more than 30kg (66 pounds) because of prison starvation policies since his detention on September 30, 2024. He contracted scabies but received no medical care, the commission said.
Ali Dhiab, 18, from Kafr Aqab in northern Jerusalem, told the commission’s lawyer that food is scarce and insufficient, forcing prisoners to skip meals and combine rations to eat once a day.
“All prisoners have lost dozens of pounds,” Dhiab told the commission.
Mapping Israel’s military campaign in the occupied West Bank
Israel is applying many of the tactics used in its war on Gaza to seize and control territory across the occupied West Bank, during its Operation Iron Wall campaign, a new report says.
Israel launched the operation in January. Defending what the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) termed “by far the longest and most destructive operation in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada in the 2000s”, the Israeli military claimed that its intention was to preserve its “freedom of action” within the Palestinian territory as it continued to rip up roads and destroy buildings, infrastructure, and water and electricity lines.
The report by the British research group Forensic Architecture suggested that Israel has imposed what researchers call a system of “spatial control”, essentially a series of mechanisms that allow it to deploy military units across Palestinian territory at will.
The report focused on Israeli action in the refugee camps of Jenin and Far’a in the northern West Bank as well as Nur Shams and Tulkarem in the northwestern West Bank. Researchers interviewed and analysed witness statements, satellite imagery and hundreds of videos to demonstrate a systematic plan of coordinated Israeli action intended to impose a network of military control in refugee camps across the West Bank similar to that imposed upon Gaza.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/27/mapping-israels-military-campaign-in-the-occupied-west-bank
Israeli cabinet ‘secretly’ approves 22 new illegal settlements in occupied West Bank: Report
The Israeli Security Cabinet has “secretly” approved the construction of 22 new illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has reported.
According to the newspaper, the cabinet “secretly approved two weeks ago the establishment of 22 settlements in [the occupied West Bank]”.
The report added that the proposal was submitted by Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The Palestinian presidency said that the approval of the new illegal settlements constitutes “a dangerous escalation that drags the region into a cycle of violence and instability”.
