Currently Online 
‘Insulted and humiliated’: Plight of Palestinian prisoners inside Israel’s jails
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has released a report detailing the “brutal” conditions faced by Palestinians held in Israeli prisons after multiple visits this month.
The group said violence against prisoners has intensified with Israeli guards using batons, rubber-coated bullets and stun guns. Prisoners are underfed and deprived of basic hygiene supplies, it said.
Some have worn the same clothes for half a year while others – particularly in the Negev and Ofer prisons – suffer from scabies, which is spreading, the group reported.
“Every time I ask to go to the clinic, I am insulted and humiliated,” the group quoted one prisoner as saying. “I also suffer from severe joint pain, and despite my numerous requests for treatment, they mock me and refuse to provide me with any medication.”
Another prisoner added: “Those who claim to be doctors or nurses carry out humiliating acts against patients. When we ask for treatment, they respond sarcastically: ‘It’s good that he’s breathing.’ Or they say: ‘Drink water with soap.'”
Israel is torturing Palestinian detainees with total ‘impunity’
Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory, says conditions for Palestinians held in Israeli jails are “terrible, to say the least”.
There are more than 10,000 Palestinians being held in different Israeli prisons and detention centres, Sunghay told Al Jazeera, enduring “ill-treatment and torture”.
“The conditions are horrendous”, he said, citing testimonies.
He said that international bodies, including the ICR,C do not have access to inspect conditions inside the prisons, and that Israeli politicians refuse to adhere to court rulings saying Palestinians should be treated humanely.
“Unfortunately, I do not expect the conditions to change anytime soon,” Sunghay said. “There is not enough pressure on Israel to change this situation and make sure they abide by international human rights and humanitarian laws.”
He said most detainees are held without charge or trial under the widely criticised practice of administrative detention.
There has been a history of torture in Israeli prisons, Sunghay added, and this is being carried out with “impunity”.
